Lucky Blurt
by LoriHuCalmia
Summary: Ten years ago, a serial killer's grave was unearthed and he disappeared. Now, he's back with his apprentice, and the BAU is on the case! Unfortunately, so is Noah Puckerman. Luck, Blurt, and Hilly. Warning for violence. 3rd in L-verse.
1. Boadicea

_Pearlie and Pearl are the same person, except Pearlie is the (past) child and Pearl is the (present) woman. I just use it so I don't have to use italics every time I set something in the past. I'm also going to use Cyanne to refer to her because when I first saw the name, I thought it said "cyanide," as in the poison. In one "Criminal Minds" episode, Prentiss is called out for seemingly never letting anything bother her. Also, Blaine's mother is going to kill somebody near the end._

_Why Buttonwillow? Because it's the most innocent name you can possibly imagine. Also, it's a cute little rest stop in the middle of freaking nowhere on the way to Disneyland from NorCal, and one of my friends said, "This would be the perfect place to dump a body!" So now it really is._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the song "Boadicea," by Enya and used in the beginning of the Criminal Minds episode "Ashes and Dust." I also don't own "Glee," because then I'd be a really old dude and my wife (kinda) and I wouldn't have gone out ever._

* * *

><p><em>"Don't get me wrong, lyrics can totally add to the overall experience of a song. But sometimes a song's words just tell you how to feel when, sometimes, you just want to listen to pure music so you can feel however you want to."~me <em>

Chapter I: Boadicea

_Buttonwillow, Indiana, 2007_

"I got twelve," Pearlie said, purse bulging with the extra kilogram of cocaine. Nobody believed her, but nobody cared, and everybody else had lied too. Everyone who attended to the raid had done so from the desire to keep some cocaine for themselves. Besides, if you had the balls to raid another gang, the unspoken assumption was that you had the balls to fight for what you raided.

"How much did you really get?" Graciela Rodriguez wasn't known for her patience. Next to her, a girl with a slender build, a rosy complexion, strawberry-blonde hair, and bright blue-green eyes shrugged noncommittally. "Oh, come on, don't be like that, Pearlie. You were there this morning; you must have gotten some."

Pearlie couldn't lie that she and some other members of the Fauna had gone to the nearby Cow Clubbers and raided their stash of cocaine, which were in tightly-sealed kilogram packages. So now, she took out one of those packages and dumped out a gram for her friend. "Don't use it all at once, Gracie. This stuff will kill you."

"Everything will kill you," Gracie muttered, "even life." She ran for a hollow coffee stirrer and cut a piece of it off. In the living room, Pearlie moved the coke into snortable lines for her. It sometimes surprised Pearlie how quickly and easily she did this. She had done cocaine once, but the high had been more of hallucination, and not a good one. The feeling that the walls were pulsing along with her heartbeat was not worth the cold pricks of pain in her nasal passages or the nosebleeds she had gotten after. Ritalin was her drug of choice. It made her erratic, but never flat-out crazy, like some of the other Fauna in the room.

The Fauna were really two different groups. The Wildcats were focused on drugs, both for use and sale. The Wolves were focused on trafficking weapons and getting more territory so they could sell to more people. Honestly, Pearlie didn't care. She wasn't part of one or the other.

"Did you paint my house?" Roger Smith's voice wasn't nasally; it was whatever the opposite of nasally was, if there was such a thing. Pearlie pushed the man away from her. She didn't want to be around when those people began withdrawing. Being puked on and verbally abused once was enough. Suddenly feeling dirty at the memory, she left the house and ran to her home as quickly as she could. Samantha Silver and Ezra Lowenstein—sorry, her mother and father—were laughing at the high they got from burying their abusive childhoods in powder. Besides them, the house was empty. Including them, the house was empty. That night, Pearlie cried herself to sleep.

She woke up no happier the next morning. So much for getting away from all the withdrawal. The fact that several shards of the coffee mug that had been thrown at the wall just above her head ended up embedded in her cheek told her that it was time to perhaps run back out again. Luckily, Keefe was already awake and ready to leave.

Good old Keefe Kalb, freed last year, more or less, had moved in with her after his mother was arrested last year. While Pearlie's home situation was probably nowhere near as bad as his had been, on account of her not being raped every night, he always acted as if he understood, always as if he wanted to protect her. Maybe he knew she wanted to protect him too. Maybe he didn't. Either way, Pearlie didn't care. She really didn't.

"You're too skinny," was her usual greeting to him. She panted it as she ran alongside him, holding his hand. They both pretended it wasn't because his ankle had been injured so badly, it would end up needing surgery, or that they felt safer when they were near each other.

"You're too pale," was his usual response. They ran in the shadows as much as possible; Pearlie had excessively strong reactions to sunlight, and neither of them were really sure why.

"Come on," he led her to an empty lot that was meant to be a community garden. The barren dirt held no testaments to its success.

Pearlie looked at Keefe. He was adorable, even when he was panting and in pain, with sweat dripping off his lank blond hair. His bright grey eyes found hers and they stared at each other for a long time.

"I love you," she said.

It looked like something broke inside Keefe, and he pulled her forward into a kiss. "I wish I knew before," he said. Then he smacked his palm to his forehead. "I think I did, actually."

Pearlie laughed sadly. "I never meant for any of that to happen," she said seriously, referring to the utter debacle that had been last year. "I didn't want your father to find you."

Keefe shrugged. "You got me out of there, that's what matters," he said seriously.

Pearlie nodded and let her eyes survey their surroundings. Her heart leapt to her throat when she spotted the hand sticking up out of the dirt.

"Keefe, is that what I think it is?" she pointed to the hand.

They both began to dig. They found an arm, a shoulder, a neck, a strangely-shaped torso, and stopped when they revealed the head. The teenagers looked at each other in horror.

"We have to tell the police," Pearlie said in a strangled whisper.

"Why? We know CC did this," Keefe said, face bone-white.

"What does this mean? This isn't CC," she pointed to the word carved on Gracie's chest. "CC's motto isn't 'cleaned.'"

Keefe grabbed the biggest rock he could find—in this case, it was embedded next to Gracie's hand—and threw it at the wall in anger. Then he noticed that Pearlie was as white as snow. He looked down and saw the unmistakable bones of a human foot. Jumping back with a cry, he turned to Pearlie, visibly shaken.

"You're right," he said through his dry mouth. "We need to call the police."

Pearlie nodded and took out her cell phone. "Hello? Operator? I just found a really weird-looking dead girl, and I think there's another dead person who's been here longer, because all that's left of his foot are bones." She hung up immediately after giving her address.

Keefe stood up. "We should go before the police get here," he said, offering her his hand. She didn't even look at him, shaking her head.

"Samantha and Ezra will be mad," he pleaded.

Pearlie bit her thumbnail as she looked at Gracie's face. "I should've stayed with her," she swallowed. "I was the last person to see her alive, it makes sense that I'm the last person to see her dead," she said with freezing detachment in her voice.

Keefe sighed and sat down next to her again.

"You're right," she pushed him lightly, "Samantha and Ezra will be pissed." He stood but hesitated. "Go ahead," she smiled tremulously. "I'll be alright."

Keefe hesitated until the smile grew stronger, steadier, and she nodded. "See you Monday," he said. Then he ran. He wouldn't see her again until he died.

* * *

><p>"98 bodies. That just about makes him the most prolific killer since Henry Lee Lucas."<p>

"Taking their blood and organs, though. That's something Luke would never have done."

"How are we gonna catch this guy? None of the bodies are good, even the new one."

"Hey, I heard the Feds just opened up a new taskforce specifically to find serial killers."

"You sure this is a serial?"

"Well, it sure got all the markers, doesn't it?"

"But the Feds?"

"What choice do we have? Given the option between looking incompetent and standing over another mass grave, I'll take the Feds."

"Fine. What's the taskforce called?"

"The BAL, or something. Damn, I don't know what it stands for."

"Hey, chief, we just got a new body. Jane Doe in a trash can outside the Kalb house."

"Like, Keefe Kalb?"

"Got it in one, boss."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Lima, Ohio, 2011<em>**

"I got twelve," Pearl said, arms full of T-shirts.

Blaine looked at her with no small amount of amusement. "I'm never going to wear all of those, put them back!" His mother moved to do so, then, "Wait!" He reached forward for a purple one. "Okay, now put them back," he grinned cheekily.

Pearl rolled her eyes. Kurt put his hand on her arm, causing her to turn around.

"You're going to try these on, Blaine," his blue eyes were marble-hard. Blaine groaned and looked toward his mother for help. Pearl dumped the shirts in Kurt's arms and threw up her hands, as if to say, "What can you do?" Even a half-vampire witch was no match for Kurt Hummel when he was in fashionista mode.

"How about after this, we go home and make some clam chowder," Pearl asked, making a compromise. "MSG-free this time, I swear," she added, "so you can take some home to your family, Kurt, if you'd like."

Kurt nodded and followed Blaine into the dressing room. They were the last ones in the mall, and there was no one else around, so Pearl had to sing extra-loudly to cover up the sounds of a make-out session punctuated with apologies and "is this okay?" And of course, the boys heard her, so the ride back to the Rush home was punctuated with absolutely nothing.

"So, would you two like to return to Dalton, or do you want to start at McKinley?" Pearl asked when they finally arrived home.

Kurt didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Miss Rush, as much as I loved being around the dapper Dalton boys, McKinley has more fashion sense. The way those pants treated your son's ass"—if Kurt noticed Pearl's cheeks turn pink, he didn't let it get to him—"was a crime. Besides, my parents gave up their honeymoon to send me for one semester."

Pearl frowned. "I didn't know that," she said quietly, pulling a nearly empty apple juice jug out of the fridge. Without warning, she drank the rest of it straight from the jug before tossing it in the overflowing recycling bin. She debated taking it out and opted for the role of procrastinator. "I could pay for both of you guys. Money is no object, believe me," she said.

Kurt shook his head. The last person who had tried to pay his tuition had lost a very important trial and submitted himself to unimaginable torture. "The New Directions are my family, and you never leave family."

Pearl nodded, respecting his decision. "Alright."

But Kurt looked at Blaine anxiously. "I don't know if he should be at McKinley, though. By now, probably the whole school knows about the trial."

"If you're going back, I'm going back. I'm not going to just sit around and study while you get beaten up by Karofsky," Blaine spat out the name as if it were bitter poison. "I can't believe they let him and Azimio come back."

"Well, Figgins hired Terri even though she had as many qualifications as Finn," Kurt said.

"I'm pretty sure Gordana has no qualifications either," Pearl frowned as she attempted to boil water in the brand-new kettle she had bought with the fines the Andersons and Mary had ended up paying.

One burnt kettle later, Pearl got a new Harry Potter-inspired nickname and a permanent ban from the kitchen.

"Maybe I should be the school nurse. I can treat burns very well," Pearl said, applying salve to her arm.

"Maybe I should just let my dad take a flamethrower to the school like he's been threatening to," Kurt shot back.

"Ouch, harsh," Pearl muttered. Her phone suddenly rang, and she wiped off the salve on her fingers before she answered. "Hello?"

In the kitchen, Blaine and Kurt were still laughing about the fact that their respective parents could not cook to save their lives.

"How do you set a kettle on fire when you're boiling **water** of all things?" Kurt asked rhetorically, voice almost snide.

"I don't understand how-" Blaine frowned. "Where did she go?" he asked.

Kurt pointed to the single piece of paper left behind. It was a note

_Have to discuss murder. Don't wait up for me. Pizza in fridge. Love!_

Blaine smiled. Even when his mother was in such a rush, she couldn't finish entire sentences, her curly writing was perfect. Too perfect.

Blaine shook his head. The woman saved his life, adopted him, and got herself badly injured standing up to the people who had hurt him. Here he was, being suspicious of her. Paranoid, much?

"Looks like we're having dinner alone tonight," Blaine said. "She was called away by the Lima Police Department."

"Again?" Kurt frowned. "Lima doesn't get a lot of murders, but it seems to me that they wouldn't mind if she has to take time off for you."

Blaine frowned. "She's been so jumpy though, ever since the double murder at your dad's shop. I think she's getting more from it than the other cops are."

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked.

"She's a profiler. It's her job to determine a criminal's mindset from the scenes he leaves behind. I think she's seeing something from them that no one else is seeing."

"Like what?" Kurt asked.

Blaine let his breath move his hair. "I have no clue. She's the profiler, and she has friends to back up what she says. I'm just here."

* * *

><p>"I received your text," Hotch said. "The team has already determined that the murders were done by a copycat."<p>

"Uncle Aaron," Pearl began, "I saw the photos of the victims outside Burt's shop. Is it true you couldn't identify any of them?"

"What would it matter?" Hotch asked.

"The man's name is Roger Smith. He used to be in the Fauna gang with me. I know everyone told police that I was the last person to see her alive because I was seen running out of her house, and that the only reason I was cleared of her murder was because she died only a few hours before she was found, but I know he was in the house too, and he would definitely not have left."

"How do you know he wouldn't have left? Are you saying he's the killer?"

"No, he would never have killed her. He was higher than she was. I'm saying he was, and always will be, Gracie's boyfriend. Doesn't Jane Doe look like how Gracie would look now?"

Hotch's heart leapt to his throat when he looked at the pictures of the dead woman and Graciela Rodriguez. "You were the girl, weren't you?" he asked. "I thought it was because of your…history with me that I recognized you. But the first day Rossi came by, he mentioned that you looked familiar too."

Pearl looked down. "Hotch, it's the same killer. I know I'm asking a lot, but it can't be a coincidence that I start showing up on tax records as living here and he suddenly starts killing again. Especially with Roger as his first victim."

"I'll do what I can," Hotch promised. He walked over to JJ's office and knocked. The blonde press agent looked up. "Get the team in my office, now."

Could there be anything as ominously loud as five cell phones ringing at once?

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><p>Revenge is often like biting a dog because the dog bit you.~Austin O'Malley, <span>Keystones of Thought<span>

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><p><em>Imagine Hotch reading the above quote, please, like he would in the show. And if you think Cow Clubbers is a weird name for a gang, real gangs name themselves weird things all the time. (Fruitstand Crips, anyone?) Yeah, I'm going to get gangbanged for that.<em>

_So much for writing like I'm writing an episode. I can't seem to get out of the storytelling mentality. Oh well._

_Love? Hate? Suggestions? There's a pretty little button to show all that!_


	2. The Scientist

_Wow! I can't believe it! I post the last chapter of Love211 and I get five author alerts. And three reviews for the last chapter on top of that! OhMyGlee55, stupidamericanidioms91, and 256, you guys are totally awesome! I was grinning so hard, Mia almost called the doctor. And actually, she did. __Bad news is, I'm sick (don't worry, nothing life-threatening). Good news is, I now basically have unlimited time to write for the next week or so, and the chapters I have planned are going to feature more Blaine and Kurt than this chapter._

_I forgot to put this in the last chapter: the main thing I want you guys to get out of reading this is a sense of how you act around your parents versus your friends, your coworkers versus your teachers. Pearl's name is going to change depending on whether or not I'm talking about her as a child (Pearlie), a mother (Pearl), or a profiler (Cyanne). I read a poem called "The Paintbrush" a while ago, but it really hit home after my mom came up to me and mentioned that I was a completely different person around my friends than I was with her. I had no idea I was acting like that, (just like most of the rest of the world) and I don't want to change anybody, since we all adapt these different personalities to best fit with a situation. But I want the people who read this to be informed about things like the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, or Love146, and even mundane, everyday things like how we change ourselves to fit other people's standards. I hope the message gets across._

_Disclaimer: now that the author's note has become longer than the actual chapter, I'm going to say that I don't own the song "The Scientist" by Coldplay, as heard in Criminal Minds' sixteenth season one episode "The Tribe" and let you get on with reading the chapter._

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><p><em>"Nobody said it was easy<em>  
><em>No one ever said it would be this hard<em>  
><em>Oh take me back to the start<em>  
><em>I was just guessing at numbers and figures<em>  
><em>Pulling the puzzles apart<em>  
><em>Questions of science, science and progress"<em>

Chapter II: The Scientist

"Lauren?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"You did a good job with Roger and his whore."

"Thanks, Dad."

"You can pick our next two victims, but only if you get home by dinner on Friday so we can plan our weekend fun. Remember, you said there was someone you wanted to protect."

"Yes, Dad." _From you._

"The only way to do that is to make sure you show up, alright?"

"Okay, bye Dad."

* * *

><p>"Well, look who's finally decided to join us," Morgan winked flirtatiously at Pearl.<p>

"Ah ha, ah ha, ah ha," Cyanne intoned as she purposefully put Reid between Morgan and herself. Many women could deal with Morgan's Casanova ways, but Cyanne was not one of them.

"What mission will you be sending us on this week, Merlin?" Prentiss asked JJ.

"Roger Smith was the man found in the dumpster in Lima, Ohio, two days ago," JJ put up the man's picture. Pearl nearly jumped out of her seat.

"Are you okay?" Reid asked, noting her reaction.

"Pearl, do you need to take a break?" _Should I remove you from the case?_

Pearl shook her head just as Morgan began to voice his objections. "I thought we all agreed that the two of them were killed by a copycat."

"We did, but that was before Cyanne mentioned that Roger Smith was the boyfriend of the Butcher's last victim, Graciela Rodriguez," Hotch said without looking up. He was afraid of seeing Pearl's expression. Crying women were her forte, not his.

"Oh, shit, you're right," Callia stared at Pearl. "I always forget you were in the Fauna."

"Excuse me, what?" Morgan sat bolt upright. "You were in one of the most powerful gangs in the Northeast?"

Pearl looked away and replied softly, "Was."

"You were the girl who found the bodies, weren't you?" Rossi didn't so much ask as he flatly stated a fact. "You were the girl who called us, the last person to see Graciela alive."

"I was the last person to see her alive sober. The last person to see her alive just had all his organs removed," Pearl gestured at the screen to Roger's dead body.

"Are you sure you can work this, Cyanne?" Morgan asked.

The young woman looked up and sent a little prayer that all that was motherly in her heart give way to the clinical objectivity that had served her so well. Callia looked at her niece with a mixture of pride and regret.

"I'm sure," Cyanne tossed back her head, knowing exactly how much of a lie that was.

"Well, there's no way Roger's an accident," Prentiss said. "If the killer was this precise with his victims' bodies, he's definitely not going to miss the fact that his new victim was the boyfriend of his last victim." Everyone in the team felt a chill and turned to a thoroughly nonchalant Cyanne, who was placidly flipping through files, the picture of an ice queen.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe I get to have you for an entire month!" Kurt was almost vibrating with excitement at the thought of his boyfriend spending a month with him.<p>

"I can't believe how much she's paying us," Carole said offhandedly as she viewed her bank statements. "If she gave us $600 for the entire month, I would be grateful, but $600 every week? I might just have to get my hair done."

Kurt squealed and clapped. "I know just the place," he led his mother away as he described the different styles he knew.

"What if she doesn't come back?" Finn, normally tactless, was even more thoughtless as he played Call of Duty with Puck. "Dude, you shot me!"

"You shot me back in Level Fifteen!"

"I didn't know that was you!"

The boys continued arguing, leaving Burt to deal with the now faintly green Blaine. "I'm sure she'll be fine, Ander-Rush. She became an FBI agent when she was only twenty; she doesn't strike me as the kind of woman to go down without a fight."

"What if her fight isn't enough?" Blaine's mumble was barely audible.

Burt pulled the boy in closer. "It'll be fine, son. She's done plenty of cases before and come back alive. Why would this be any different?"

Blaine sniffed and leaned away.

"You'll always have a place here, if she ever does get in trouble," Burt gave his shoulders a squeeze. The former Warbler looked up at Burt. The smile on his face was halfhearted, but it was there and it was a start. Burt released him with a satisfied nod before returning to the couch. Without his income, Pearl's offer had come in at the perfect time.

"Yo, dude, I gotta go," Puck said. "Lauren and I are planning some sweet weekend fun, if you know what I mean," he winked at Finn, who high-fived him. Blaine let out a soft snort as Puck walked out. Puck didn't hear, but Finn did and his face lit up.

"Hey, do you wanna play?" he offered Blaine Puck's abandoned console.

"I don't know how," Blaine was unsure.

"Really?" Finn looked at Blaine as if he had sprouted a second (and possibly a third) head. "Man, I can't believe they didn't arrest the Andersons right away! Come on, I'll teach you!"

Blaine smiled, feeling at home again.

* * *

><p>Lauren knew her father was going to be mad, but damn if Noah Puckerman did not have a pair of balls the size of frigging Texas. Wait, which was bigger, Russia or Texas? Oh, who cares? The shaking of the bed effectively covered up the vibration of Lauren's cell phone. It wasn't until both she and Puck were panting on their bed that the insistent ringing became more than just a minor annoyance. Puck reached over, probably to smash it on the table with the promise of stealing her another, but Lauren slapped his hand away and flipped it open before emitting an utterly girly and un-Lauren-like shriek.<p>

"What?" Puck muttered. "If you're one of those chicks afraid of spiders, I swear I'm gonna-"

"It's 8:00," Lauren glared at him. "I was supposed to be home by 5:00!"

"Why the hell do you have to do that?" Puck groaned as he turned to face her.

"My dad," Lauren was glad she only had to say those two words for Puck to shut up. Having virtually groan up without a father, Puck was especially sensitive to Lauren's obedience, and perhaps a little jealous. Maybe if he had been as good to his father as Lauren was, Puckerman Sr. wouldn't have walked out.

"Whatever," Puck said, throwing his hands up in surrender. "You're the one losing out on cuddle time, not me."

Lauren shot him a dirty look. "Since when have we ever had cuddle time?" she spat the last two words out like they left a nasty taste in her mouth.

Puck watched his girlfriend leave with a dreamy smile. Finally, a curvy girl his age as badass as he was!

* * *

><p>"What do we know about this UNSUB?" asked Hotch.<p>

"He's able to remove the organs and blood of his victims with clinical precision," Rossi said. "Clearly, he had a medical background."

"There's no sexual component," Reid added. "You've got brunettes, blondes, redheads, tall, skinny, short, there's not much overlap. An UNSUB whose victims fit a physical type are more likely to be sexually attractive to the UNSUB."

"He's definitely male," Prentiss said. "Women would pay much more attention to the body than this. He just takes what he needs and dumps the body."

"Guys, we're ignoring a really obvious clue here," Morgan interrupted. "He carves 'cleaned' on the bodies of all his victims and literally cleans them of their organs and blood. Doesn't that suggest that this guys out on a mission to take out those he deems unworthy?"

"I wouldn't doubt that this guy's also selling these organs to the people he thinks deserve to live but are being unfairly denied that chance," Hotch's wife, Callia, interjected. "He probably thinks he's doing the world a favor by sacrificing the 'bad' for the 'good.'"

"So we're dealing with a sociopathic narcissist," Hotch concluded. "But how do you explain the most recent two murders?"

Maybe he feels like he was incapacitated," JJ suggested. "I mean, after, Pearlie uncovered his dumping ground, his established routine was ruined, so now that she's just moved to Ohio, he feels like he has to show her that he's okay."

Everyone stared at her, a million words dancing on the tips of their tongues, but it was Hotch who spoke first. "You gave up a career as a profiler to be a press agent?"

"JJ, you might have just blown the case wide open," Morgan said in awe.

"He's probably started killing again in an effort to shake up the girl who exposed his dumping ground," Reid said thoughtlessly. All eyes in the room turned to him. "Um, except it's not going to work because we won't let him get to you," he told Cyanne, who merely smiled coolly.

"Bring it," she said. "I need a challenge."

Unfortunately, the Butcher would not be bringing the challenge to her.

* * *

><p>"You're late."<p>

"Wrestling practice-"

"Doesn't start for another two months. Are you tired of our mission?"

"No, Dad," Lauren said immediately. "Dad, I'm ready. I've seen your legacy. I've participated in it."

For a few moments, all that could be heard was the sip of a beer and the commentary of a football game. Lauren wished she could see her father's face and gauge what sort of mood he was in. Unluckily, it appeared to be a bad one.

"You spent it with that boy, didn't you?"

Lauren felt like her very bones were frozen. She nearly tripped over herself trying to backtrack. "No, no, Dad. He's not distracting me. I still want to do it."

"Good, because there isn't enough room for two men in your life, unless one of them is on The Table."

"Of course not, Dad."

Silence again, but it was much less tense. Lauren's father turned up the volume of his game. "Have you washed the blood off yet?"

"Uh, no," Lauren blushed, shrinking away.

"Well, you better get on that. Blood doesn't wash off easily, you know."

"Yes, Dad," Lauren took advantage of this opening to run up to her room. Her bloodstained jeans and sweater formed a human-shaped shadow on the floor, and was it just her imagination or was the human pointing at her?

* * *

><p>Doug Dardictin heard that two people who wanted to live here had to be turned away. They would have gotten his room and some other idiot's room, but it didn't matter; they didn't, so he wouldn't have to give up his room just yet. It wasn't very nice of him, but life wasn't nice to him, so why should he be nice to other fellow living beings? He yawned and looked around. Ah, there was his client, Todd Rinucdagi.<p>

"I only have thirty dollars," said Todd.

"Then you only get thirty grams," said Doug, handing over exactly three packets. Sure, he was disobeying the rules, but rules were meant to be broken. And the life that he hated so much would soon slip away from him as a result.

From two blocks away, a man watched.

* * *

><p>"We've found his second stressor," Hotch was quick to make sure the team didn't get in over their heads. "But we still don't know what his first stressor was."<p>

"Maybe these next two victims will shed some light on it," Rossi gestured to his photos. "His first victim, Roger Smith, was murdered first, then the woman. Her death was just as professional, but the way her body was taken care of afterward was nowhere as clean."

"But Gracie wasn't his last victim," Callia reminded everyone. "There was a woman, Stella Keyes, found outside the house of the Kalb family."

"Why them?" Hotch immediately asked.

Cyanne wanted to say it was because a boy used to live there, but Callia answered for her, for once taking mercy on her niece.

"It's in close proximity, and the people who lived there were known members of the Fauna gang. This was probably before the Butcher knew which specific member made the call."

Everyone seemed to accept this explanation and turned back to JJ.

"Alright, Cyanne, Reid, Callia and I will go to Buttonwillow," Hotch said. "Rossi, Morgan, JJ, and Prentiss, you guys go to Lima. Garcia, make sure all our information gets to the other team."

"Wouldn't it be better to have Cyanne go to Lima?" Prentiss asked. "Her son's there."

"Yes, but she's much more familiar with Buttonwillow and her status as the girl who made the call will get us further," Hotch said. "Come on, we don't have all day. Jet leaves in five. We're going back to the beginning." He turned to look at the grainy photos on the desk of the original crime scene. "The very beginning," he muttered.

The team gathered their travel bags and headed over to the tarmac, where their jet awaited.

Prentiss noticed Cyanne pause on the steps. "Do you want to go home?" she asked.

"No, I feel like I just got home," Cyanne confessed. She walked inside.

* * *

><p>Cyanne: <em>Co<em>_me to my woman's breast and take my milk for bitterest gall~Lady MacBeth, _Hamlet_._

* * *

><p><em>Doug Dardictin and Todd Rinucdagi are both<em>_ anagrams of "drug addiction." And yes, they're going to die. There's a reason Mr. Zizes picked that particular Halfway House. Stella means "star," and she's going to be the star victim. Keyes is because she holds the key to finding Lauren and her father._

_Next time, two graphic murders take place (I'll warn you so you can avoid it), I introduce Det. Ophelia Milandu Gadhavi from the Buttonwillow Police Department, and Karofsky and Azimio come back to McKinley (hey, if Figgins hired Terri as the school nurse, he could definitely take the two jocks back)._

_Like? Suggestions? Recipes? How about just reviews?_


	3. The Riddle

_Thank you to OhMyGlee55 (your character is introduced here with the initials OMG), 256, and stupidamericanidioms91 for your incredibly encouraging reviews. I hope I live up to you guys' expectations again._

_Eep! I didn't realize I put in the wrong quote at the end of the last chapter until I already posted it. Instead of the "prayer" Pearl sends to replace all that's good and motherly in her with objectivity, I put the quote I wanted at the end of the story (or at least close to the end)._

_That being said, I also forgot to mention that "The Scientist" was used in the episode "The Tribe" in season one. Also, none of the Gleeks are going to appear in this chapter (I know, I know, I promised, but they'll be in next chapter, I promise!) I took out all the details of the organ-removal scene. This bug is making me nauseous enough; I don't need graphic descriptions on top of that._

_Disclaimer: I don't own "The Riddle," by Five for Fighting and used in the episode "The Fisher King, Part 2" (in season two)._

* * *

><p><em>"Here's a riddle for you,<em>  
><em>Find the answer.<em>  
><em>There's a reason for the world:<em>  
><em>You and I." <em>

Chapter III: The Riddle

"So who have you picked, Dad?"

"I was thinking we should target those hooligans at the Halfway House."

"Really?" Lauren's relief was nearly palpable.

"All those drug addicts are murders and dealers waiting to happen. Just the other day, I saw a man dealing to another half his age. I swear, they're almost your age, Lauren."

Lauren didn't care. Puck was safe. What did she care? It's not like she knew anyone who lived in the Halfway House. Besides, those two jock jerks who had nearly beaten one of their Glee Clubbers to death were constantly hanging around there, getting handouts. If they were an indication, killing those Halfway House residents would be a great thing.

* * *

><p>"Roger Smith was professionally bled, killed, and mutilated. Everything here fits with the original Butcher MO," Morgan said once everyone was situated on the plane.<p>

"But the Jane Doe's murder was messy. There was still a lot of blood smeared across her body, and most of her bone marrow was still there," Prentiss said.

"The kidneys were removed with a great deal of mess," Cyanne said, looking over the autopsy results. "It's like whoever killed her used a serrated-edged knife."

"Maybe Jane Doe's killer dropped the knife. Or it could have slipped. I know Prentiss mentioned that there was a lot of blood in her body," said JJ. She stood up to talk to the pilot.

"Guys, he could've been tired after the first murder," Reid said. "Perhaps he meant to get Roger alone, but found the prostitute there and murdered her to silence her."

"Why are we assuming that Jane Doe is a fluke?" Hotch didn't like the sound of that. "If the Butcher is careful enough to track down the boyfriend of his second-to-last victim, he wouldn't be so careless as to miss another person in the hotel room with him."

"We've already established that the Butcher is a mission killer. He thinks he's doing the best thing for humanity by weeding out those he deems undesirable. Maybe the sight of the girl who had exposed him getting a family made him realize his own approaching mortality and he felt like he needed someone else to continue his mission," Callia leaned back.

"We already know that seeing Cyanne was his second stressor. What we need to know now is his first," Rossi cut in. "But I like your idea of an accomplice. It would explain the sudden appearance of two victims and the amateurish MO."

"Guys," JJ said, coming from the front of the jet, "the plane's landing in Buttonwillow in five minutes."

Hotch, Callia, Reid, and Cyanne picked up their bags. Hotch looked at his wife and his niece sternly. "You two behave," he ordered.

The four were greeted by Detective Oleksander Milandu Gadhavi.

* * *

><p>The murders were almost laughably easy. Zizes and Lauren came up behind the two and wrapped their arms around Doug and Todd's necks until both men were on the ground, unconscious. Then it was merely a matter of keeping them in the chokehold until neither man was breathing. They didn't struggle as their bodies were dumped and tucked into the back of Zizes' pick-up truck. Any security camera could have caught them. But Lauren knew which roads had cameras and which didn't. Really, she wasn't in the AV Club for nothing. She even had cameras all over her house.<p>

* * *

><p>Oleksander Gadhavi came from a family of police officers, all of whom had horror stories of the Feds interfering in their cases, as well as Feds bringing welcome relief. He couldn't tell, from the look in Aaron Hotcher's face, which one he would be. Regardless, Det. Gadhavi offered his hand and the department head took it. "Detective Gadhavi," she said. "Call me Oleksander."<p>

"Aaron Hotcher. Please call me Agent Hotchner."

"Thank you for coming here," Det. Gadhavi said with a modicum of suspicion. "I hope you understand how surprised I was to receive your call. The FBI hasn't come back to ask about the Butcher for years."

"Did you hear about the victims in Ohio?" the younger man behind him asked.

Det. Gadhavi's eyes widened. "You mean, he's started killing again?"

The tall woman standing next to Hotch nodded grimly. "Probably because of her," she glared at the youngest female amongst them.

Det. Gadhavi was wary again. "She doesn't look like she was old enough to have been alive at the time of the murders."

"She was the girl who made the 911 call at the mass grave," Callia responded. "Now she has a son and recently moved to a small town in Ohio called Lima."

Understanding seemed to dawn across Det. Gadhavi's face. "I see," he said slowly. If his eyes were wide before, they were positively giant now. "I suppose you guys want to see everything we have on the original crime scene."

"If you could also show me everything you have on Stella Keyes, I would really appreciate it," Cyanne said politely. Det. Gadhavi frowned. The soprano that came from her mouth was obscene with the haunted expression on her face.

"Sure," Det. Gadhavi drove them all to the police station, which was surrounded by photographers, journalists and news anchors. "I'm sorry," he said. "You have to understand, a case like this, the people are going to be curious." He turned back and looked anxiously at Cyanne. "If you want, Agent Rush, we can escort you through the back door. Your identity as the caller won't be revealed that way."

"The only reason we would have to keep my identity a secret is if the killer didn't already know it," Cyanne snapped. "He already has it, so it doesn't matter."

"Calm down!" Callia barked. Cyanne settled down, sulking. As it turned out, there was little cause to worry about the press. Cyanne's semi-murderous expression frightened most of them away.

* * *

><p>"Go ahead, Lauren, you can do it. I taught you how last time," Zizes said, seeing his daughter's hand shake as she prepared to cut into Todd's stomach.<p>

"I feel sick," she confessed. She knew she had done something wrong when her father dropped his scalpel and glared at her.

"I won't be here forever, Lauren," he said.

"I know that, Dad."

"Good. You need to learn how to carry on the mission on your own."

"Of course, Dad."

"You will carry on my mission, won't you?"

"Yes, Dad."

"Good. Now, watch me carefully."

If he got the blade to slip under the skin, he could cut by memory. He had practiced on cadavers in medical school enough times to remember exactly where the kidneys were. OTT, 123. Always cut out, toward yourself, and at the top of the organ.

Both Doug and Todd were addicts, and as a result their tissue would reflect it. None of their organs would be able to end up in the Donor Registry. However, he could still sell the organs to people who were desperate enough not to care. The list of those who needed transplants was organized in a first-come first-serve basis, not on a first-needed basis. If it was that way, everyone would be on the top of the list. And Zizes could spend all his time doing this rather than going to work. As far as he was concerned, his work was scoping out the vermin of the world and purging them from the earth. They deserved it.

Graciela and Roger were the only people he still remembered. Graciela had been his undoing. Stella had unexpectedly dropped by his house that night, and both she and Lauren had caught him in the act. Neither of them had really expected it, and Stella had voiced her objections. She almost ruined everything he had made, so of course he had to ruin her.

He reached down for the icebox and placed the kidney inside it. Then came the other kidney, the liver, and the pancreas. Then Zizes cut a bit further up the cadaver and removed the heart and each lung separately. After that, it was a matter of removing the cornea and the few pieces of skin that wasn't scabbed over or infected. Through a series of syringes, he took out the bone marrow and blood. He looked over to see how Lauren was faring.

She was covered in blood, bile, and other various fluids from the human body. She looked a little shocked, but not like she was going to throw up.

* * *

><p>"<em>What are you doing?" Stella demanded.<em>

"_I'm making the world safe," he said._

_Stella's eyes were wide and horrified as she stared at the woman on the table. "This is why our utility bills have been so high," she seemed to choke. "You've been killing people in your sterile room."_

"_Stella, I'm making the world safer. This girl's a drug addict and a dealer."_

"_You never had a job, yet you could afford all these things!"_

"_Stella, think of the world our daughter deserves to grow up in!"_

_There was a moment of silence. "Our daughter doesn't deserve to grow up in a world with _you_ in it!"_

_His hands were upon her throat in an instant. It wasn't until he could no longer feel her veins throb beneath his hands that he looked up and saw his daughter. She looked a little shocked, but not like she was going to throw up. Still, he had to get Stella's influence away from her before she was ruined too._

_That was how he had learned to store victims. He didn't want to kill Stella until after he was done with Graciela. Although, he thought ironically the next day, it ended up working out better than he had every anticipated. She was his last victim, and she was the most important one._

* * *

><p>Who could have guessed that, seven years later, he would end up going after an even more important woman? Well, he could focus on that later. Tonight, he was going to have a long drive.<p>

* * *

><p>"Are we sure that Stella Keyes' murder is related?" Callia asked, holding up a photo of the woman's torso. "Her skin's still intact, except for the word, and it's not even the right word."<p>

"This was back when no one had any idea what was going on," Cyanne retorted. "The one word on her chest was carved with the same hand. The hand's owner is just angry."

RUINED was written across Stella Keyes' chest, and Hotch didn't give it more than a cursory glance. "It looks like the Butcher is expressing distaste that his mission was ruined by all the publicity and the unveiling of his dump site."

"It says here she's given birth," Cyanne said, reading the autopsy report.

Det. Gadhavi did a double-take. "I haven't read anything from my predecessors' records about her having a boyfriend or a child." He frowned, reconsidering his comment. "Actually, there aren't a lot of records. She must not have had many friends."

"So, someone with a medical background who lived in a secluded area," Hotch refined their profile. "How many people lived in Buttonwillow would match that profile?"

Cyanne and Callia snorted. "Everyone," Cyanne reminisced bitterly. "Everyone who works in the medical field."

"So Buttonwillow is the kind of place where secrets fester?" Hotch frowned. "What if we went directly to people and asked them about the boyfriend or child?"

Callia shook her head. "No one would answer you. They'd all put their manners first."

Hotch frowned. This case was going to be a tough nut to crack. Just then, his phone rang. "Hotchner," he answered. "Yes, JJ, what have you learned?"

* * *

><p>"<em>The People rest, Your Honor."<em>

"_Cross, Your Honor?"_

"_Proceed."_

"_Pearlie, you said that you were abused daily, did you not?"_

"_Yes, I did."_

"_Physically, emotionally, and sexually?"_

"_Yes."_

"_I understand that emotional abuse is difficult to prove, but you never noise held back or tried to cover up the bruises or scars, did you?"_

"_No, I did not."_

"_Then why, when both our experts and the police interviewed your neighbors, they provided no evidence of your abuse?"_

"_Samantha and Ezra made sure to hit me in places that could be easily covered up. They'd always avoid my face. And I'm going to take a wild guess and say that my neighbors and friends refused to talk to you. They didn't say that they never heard me scream or saw me hurt." Something about Pearlie's beautiful voice seemed out of sorts with the frostiness of the words it formed._

_The defense lawyer paused a few seconds. "No more questions, Your Honor."_

* * *

><p>"So, what kind of hold is the Butcher likely to have on the accomplice?" Prentiss asked rhetorically.<p>

"Why would it matter? They're both killers," JJ looked confused.

"If we can figure out what kind of bond the two share, we can use it to break them up, maybe get them to turn on one another," Morgan answered.

"I think we'll have a better shot at getting the accomplice on our side. He would've only been killing for a few weeks," Rossi said, "so he'd be less acclimated to murder."

"That depends on the level of brainwashing the UNSUB has done on the accomplice," Prentiss argued. Her attention was drawn to Cyanne's ringing phone.

"Well, all 112 original victims were killed by blunt force trauma, but these last two were strangled. So was Stella Keyes," Morgan added.

"So were the last two victims," Prentiss' face wore an expression of abject shock. "Guys, Cyanne left her phone on the jet. Two men were dumped directly in front of the police station."

"That was the Lima PD?" asked Rossi.

Prentiss shook her head. "What kind of connection does the Butcher have to Philly?"

* * *

><p>Rossi: <em>"There's a very fine line between confidence and complacency."~Dave McGinnis<em>

* * *

><p><em>Next time, Blaine and Kurt go shopping, Lilly Rush will finally be making an appearance (I wanted her in <span>Love211<span> but that didn't end up working out), and Karofsky and Azimio make a comeback. The next chapter will be largely Glee-related, with as little Criminal Minds as I can while still moving the plot forward. I hope I'm not going to fast._

_If you have questions, drop me a PM or a review *hint hint*._


	4. She's Got a Way

_Wow, I'm forgetting everything, aren't I? Oleksander means "defender, helper" because he helps solve the case, Milandu means "case to answer" which is the case of the Butcher, and Gadhavi means "twenty forts" and refers to the person responsible for the security of forts. Likewise, Det. Gadhavi is responsible for the security of Buttonwillow. Adla means "justice" and Det. Bef is trying to find justice._

_Thanks to 256 for reviewing the last chapter. Believe me, I really appreciate it, and your character will return next chapter, promise._

_I'm going to introduce daughter!Pearl, or Ceinwen. To review, mother!Pearl is Pearl, profiler!Pearl is Cyanne, and child!Pearl is Pearlie._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the song "She's Got a Way" by Billy Joel, used in Cold Case episode "Love Conquers Al." I also don't own Lilly Rush or Lt. John Stillman from "Cold Case." I still can't believe they canceled my favorite show of all time. And I don't care what Mia says; SGaW is and always will be a daughter/parent song and not a romantic one._

* * *

><p><em>"She's got a smile that heals me<em>  
><em>I don't know why it is<em>  
><em>But I have to laugh when she reveals me<em>  
><em>She's got a way of talkin'<em>  
><em>I don't know why it is<em>  
><em>But it lifts me up when we are walkin' anywhere"<em>

Chapter IV: She's Got a Way

"I must admit, I still feel like I'm stealing," Carole said, looking at her hair in the mirror.

"I don't think my mother can take no for an answer," Blaine said glibly. "She's in Indiana right now." His phone buzzed; it was Pearl texting him. "Never mind. Now she's heading to Philadelphia," he suddenly frowned. "She misspelled Philadelphia."

"So? Finn can't even spell Indiana," Kurt ignored the glare Finn sent him.

"I doubt my mother has spent the last six years not knowing how to spell the place **her** mother lives in."

Kurt shrugged. "It's a plane. Takeoff is a bitch. When we went to New York, remember, you spilled your coffee in your lap and had a panic attack?"

Blaine frowned and shook his head as if to clear the memory from his brain. "It was hot, and it looked like I wet myself." _Mary used to do that all the time._

"I thought you were never going to calm down," Finn said.

"Can we talk about something else?" Blaine complained.

"We'd be happy to decorate the living room for you or something," Burt said. "You know, since your mom's giving us so much money to help us take care of you." He looked at the glass of water in his hand, desperately wishing it was beer.

"I think she understands that medical bills have to be paid before-"

"Those were already paid off," Burt waved dismissively. "Right after Kurt got out of the hospital, we got a letter in the mail saying that he and I both got some new insurance."

Blaine wasn't surprised that is mother still blamed herself. He, however, did feel guilty since the whole thing was his fault.

"Oh, we could go shopping!" Kurt looked like someone had parted the clouds for him. "Blaine, you simply must update your wardrobe," he wrinkled his nose at the "I'm With Stupid" T-shirt Blaine currently donned. "I will not allow my boyfriend to wear this in public any longer. If your mother's giving my family all this money and not leaving us much to spend it on, we should put it to good use."

It showed how overwhelmed Carole was that she agreed right away. "You boys can go tomorrow," she said as she handed Kurt five twenties. "Be careful, though. There's a killer."

Blaine looked incredibly uncomfortable, and Carole wanted to kick herself. About five seconds later, she wanted to kick her son.

"Oh, and you guys won't believe who showed up at school today," Finn called from the living room, where he and Burt were watching some kind of football game.

"Who?"

"Dave Karofsky and James Azimio," Finn groaned. "I mean, come on, they practically killed my brother." He reached into the bowl of fatty snacks. For once, Kurt didn't shudder. "Oh, and you, Blaine," the tall teen remembered the short Warbler.

Blaine's lungs seemed to fill with lead and he realized his forehead was level with the kitchen cabinet only when Kurt shouted something about ice. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the cold stone, reminding himself that he could survive this. He survived the stares, the glares, the pity, he could definitely survive this.

"How could Figgins let him back!" Kurt was beside himself.

"Whoa, calm down, Kurt," Finn looked apprehensive. "Figgins hired Mr. Schue's wife as the school nurse when she didn't have any medical training whatsoever."

"Previous idiocy is never an excuse for present idiocy," Kurt sniffed.

"Come on, boys," Carole pleaded. "Can't we all just go to sleep?"

Sleep was a long time coming for Blaine that night, however. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Karofsky's mocking face, and Azimio morphed into his parents more often than Blaine would have liked.

He looked at Kurt, who was sleeping peacefully as he clung to Blaine's arm. Not wanting to wake the countertenor, Blaine shifted and tried to sleep as best he could.

Two horrendous nightmares later, he was shaken awake. Kurt was standing over him, skin chalky with fear.

"Blaine, what's wrong?"

"I-" Blaine took deep breaths in hopes of calming himself down. "I kept dreaming that Karofsky and Azimio cornered us. They got ready to beat me, but then they were pummeling you. And then Azimio was holding you down as Karofsky…" he couldn't finish. He didn't need to finish; Kurt drew him into a hug.

"They won't get to me," Kurt whispered into his ear. "I know you will never let that happen. But while you're busy protecting me, do you mind being careful with yourself as well?"

Blaine nodded, wiped his eyes, and sniffed. "I'm so glad you're here," he said.

Kurt smiled a little. "I'm glad too, because I love you."

"I love you as well, Kurt."

"Now, come on, we have to get ready for school. I'm going to tell all the girls we're going shopping, see if they want to tag along."

Blaine groaned good-naturedly and Kurt punched him carefully on the arm.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe I left my phone in the freaking jet!" Pearl looked on the verge of collapse. "How many times did Blaine call?"<p>

"Um, none," Prentiss said gently, afraid of upsetting the woman further.

Pearl seemed to consider this, then realized, "Yeah, he would be too afraid of disturbing me to call."

"Can I come with you?" Det. Gadhavi asked.

Hotch looked at the rest of his team, none of whom looked like Det. Gadhavi would be kicked out, and shrugged. "If you're as committed to solving this case as we are, hop aboard. But I'm warning you, if you get in the way, I will not hesitate to have you shipped back to the Buttonwillow PD."

Det. Gadhavi nodded as JJ got off the phone. "Hotch, Detectives Sai and Bef said they've already established that both men are current residents of Lima."

Pearl's phone buzzed and she saw her mother's message. "My mother will meet us there and get us acquainted with the PPD."

"So, he's definitely targeting you," Morgan looked at Pearl worriedly. "Watch out for yourself, girl."

"I plan to," Cyanne's tone was clipped as she boarded the jet.

Det. Gadhavi did a double-take when the young mother flounced away and climbed the steps. "Is it just me, or does she act completely different every five minutes?" he asked Reid in a conspiratorial whisper.

Reid laughed. "Oh, no, she just acts like that every time Morgan tries to be her protector."

Det. Gadhavi was still not convinced, but boarded the jet regardless.

* * *

><p>Sex smelled like sweat. Sweat, heat, and male. Lauren wasn't sure if the last two really had a smell, but she loved the smell almost as much as she loved the act. Of course, she loved Puck more than anything else.<p>

Wait, love? No, Lauren couldn't trust Puck, which meant that she couldn't love Puck. Besides, Lauren didn't do love. She couldn't have feelings when she knew that Puck fit most of the people on her father's extermination criteria: delinquent, unrepentant, and easily able to sway others to the cause of the impure. No, Lauren certainly didn't love Puck.

In fact, she didn't love at all. Love was an emotion, and emotions were vulnerable spots, not like scalpels, which were made of unbreakable steel. She had to be tough and strong.

She had to be alone in her bed before her father woke up.

"Noah Puckerman, I believe," boomed the unusually calm voice.

Or not. Shit, she was screwed in more ways than she thought. So was Puck, although his expression remained impeccable. "Sup, Mr. Zizes," he sniffed in his "bro" way.

To Lauren's surprise, the only things Zizes shot Puck was a smile. "You're a tough kid," Lauren's father said, eyes indecipherable. "You must be, to date my daughter. And it's early, so I'm too tired to kill you. That won't be the case next time, do you understand?"

Puck nodded. Something in Zizes' tone took all the cheekiness out of his face.

"Good. Now scram."

Puck dressed in record time and shot out of the house faster than a bullet. Zizes was left looking at Lauren.

"Well, little one, you're going to start killing without my help soon, and I think I have a good idea who will be first."

Lauren gulped. She knew what was coming.

"Noah Puckerman and his friend Finn Hudson-Hummel have been causing trouble around here lately," Zizes' voice sent shivers down Lauren's back.

"Dad, I can get you two even better people," Lauren said suddenly. "You know that girl you're obsessed with has a son, right?"

Zizes rubbed his hands together. "You can get me him?"

Lauren snorted, more from relief that her father was now hooked than disbelief that Zizes could doubt her, but she let him believe whatever he wanted. "Come on, the only two out kids in Lima? Kurt Hummel and Blaine Rush are going shopping tonight. They're in Glee with me. They'll come with me if I ask."

Zizes was so delighted, he completely forgot about Puck. Of course, that was Lauren's intention, but when he left and she realized she had to abduct Blaine Rush and Kurt Hummel, her stomach tightened. No, this was no way to live; guilt was an emotion too, and something she definitely didn't want.

* * *

><p>"Amaryllis Rush, and yes, I am named after the belladonna lily," Lilly introduced herself to the team. "Please, call me Lilly or Det. Rush," she spotted her daughter. "Or Mom, if you prefer," she smiled and winked at a thoroughly embarrassed Ceinwen.<p>

"Mom, cut it out," Ceinwen protested. She pouted like a little child.

Lilly laughed as she waved her everyone over. "So, any reason half the Lima Police Department flew halfway across the country and called you guys in?" she asked.

"We believe there's a serial killer with a fixation on your daughter," Reid responded in his typical tactless way. Lilly froze in her tracks and Callia glared.

"Wait, what do you mean, there's a serial killer with a fixation?" Lilly grabbed Ceinwen and pressed the younger woman to her chest despite Ceinwen's wriggling, as if holding her daughter closer would magically make the UNSUB disappear.

"Have you ever heard of someone named the Buttonwillow Butcher?" asked Det. Gadhavi.

"He killed over a hundred people," Lilly's grip on Ceinwen tightened. "Are you telling me that he's after my daughter?"

"She does fit the typical victim profile: homosexuality is considered immoral by many-" Hotch clamped a mouth over Reid's mouth to muffle the rest of the words. Lilly looked like she was going to shoot someone, or possibly herself.

"You know how his crimes were discovered, right?" Rossi asked the woman gently. No one wanted to upset her more.

"Yes," Lilly reached into the recesses of her memory. "Some girl called the police to report that she found some bodies."

"Exactly," Ceinwen said sulkily. "I was that girl, Mom. That's the only reason he's focusing on me. He wants to scare me, and don't freak out because it's not working."

Lilly let go of her daughter and frowned. "Where are your manners, young lady?" She looked at Hotch and Callia conspiratorially. " She's got a way about her. It's like every time she sees me, she turns into the sixteen-year-old brat she was when I first met her," Lilly reached forward to ruffle Ceinwen's hair.

Ceinwen scowled and ducked her mother's hand. "Mom," she drew the world out into a whine and stomped her foot. The sight of this grown woman having a temper tantrum in the middle of the Philadelphia Police Department drew a laugh out of even Hotch, and it was a much lighter-hearted BAU that entered Stillman's office, where he stood and welcomed them. Lilly excused herself, and Cyanne looked at her body language before groaning.

"What's wrong?" JJ asked Ceinwen kindly.

"She's calling my dad. He's going to freak harder than she did!"

The entire room erupted in laughter at that.

* * *

><p>"Pick up one of those buffalo wing platters with the barbecue sauce," Burt called as the boys prepared to leave. Kurt and Carole shot him identical dirty looks. Burt backed away, hands raised over his head in surrender.<p>

"Never mind him," Carole said affectionately. "He just has no concept of the words 'cholesterol' and 'heart health.'"

"Thanks Carole, "Kurt hugged her before he took Blaine's hand and they stepped outside to where Kurt's car sat.

"So, none of the girls could come?" Blaine asked innocently.

Kurt glared. "Blaine, what did you do?"

Blaine shrugged. He may or may not have told Mercedes and Tina that he wanted some romantic time with Kurt today before they got the chance to talk about Kurt inviting them to go shopping. Kurt had been un-cock-blocked. Wait, was that a word? Blaine found it a bit hard to concentrate on vocabulary when Kurt was standing so close to him with a sexy—he meant to say, furious—expression on his face.

"You can buy the peacoat you've had your eye on," Blaine said quickly in an effort to save his own life.

Kurt actually did back down as he considered this. The Marc Jacobs peacoat he had had his eye on was definitely out of his budget, but he knew it wasn't out of Blaine's. "Alright, deal."

* * *

><p>Lilly:<em> "Anything which parents have not learned from experience they can now learn from their children."~Anonymous<em>

* * *

><p><em>No, Kurt! Don't drive yourself and Blaine to the mall! Well, I could easily save them...but I won't! Mwahahahahaha. Yeah, I'm evil. Okay, next time, Kurt and Blaine are going to meet Lauren Zizes and our favorite detectives make a breakthrough in the case.<em>

_Suggestions? Corrections? Review!_


	5. Never Say Never

_I want to thank livvylovesyou, 256, OhMyGlee55, stupidamericanidioms91 for sticking with this story, and Mia for writing Lauren's dad's part because I didn't want to kill Blaine and Kurt, but I also didn't want Zizes to deviate from his MO. Thanks for giving me a way out._

_Sorry for the short Glee appearances. I wanted to do more with them, but the abduction just kind of exploded into half the chapter._

_Disclaimer: I don't own "Never Say Never" by The Fray and used in CSI: Miami episode "Happy Birthday." I also don't own Horatio Caine or CSI: Miami, where he's from._

* * *

><p><em>"Picture, you're the queen of everything<br>As far as the eye can see  
>Under your command<br>I will be your guardian  
>When all is crumbling<br>To steady your hand  
>You can never say never<br>While we don't know when"_

Chapter V: Never Say Never

"Keep them alive. I want them to know exactly what's going to happen to them."

"Alright, Dad."

"Do you remember our cover story?"

"Yes."

"Go over it one more time with me."

* * *

><p>"Well, here we are," Kurt had yet to be in a mood bad enough that the prospect of shopping couldn't cheer him up. "I can't believe Pearl's paying us to take care of you. You seem to live on nothing!" He spotted the box of lube and condoms on the shelf of a store as they passed by. "Well, almost nothing." Blaine laughed and took his boyfriend's hand.<p>

"Kurt, you've been nothing short of amazing these last few weeks, especially after the whole, you know," he let the sentence go unfinished. Neither of them wanted to think about the people who had tortured Blaine, injured Kurt, and nearly killed Pearl. Kurt bounced back from everything so well. Nothing made Blaine happier than seeing his boyfriend happy. Not even the faint feeling that he was being watched could dampen his spirits as he watched Kurt flit from store to store, gathering outfits for both boys to try out.

In hindsight, that was a mistake.

* * *

><p>"Dad, you really didn't have to come down here too," Ceinwen grumbled at Horatio Caine.<p>

"If someone's after my daughter, I want to know," Horatio's tone left no room for argument. Even his daughter sat down and shut up.

"Now that we've established that everything the Butcher does now leads to me, what kind of significance do these victims have to me?" Ceinwen asked sulkily.

Hotch almost laughed again as he stood up. "Garcia says that Doug Dardictin and Todd Rinucdagi were both born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Does that ring any bells?" he asked Ceinwen.

Ceinwen shook her head. "I've never been there in my life."

"Guys, if the Butcher's obsessed with taking Cyanne down, he's eventually going to come after her," Morgan said.

"But he's delaying that because he wants her to be his last victim," Reid added.

"But if I were to present myself," Cyanne held up a hand to stave off protests, "in a controlled situation, would he be able to resist?"

"No, he wouldn't," Callia sat up straighter. "And it would be our best chance of catching him before he can hurt anyone else."

"My daughter is already in the crosshairs of a killer. I'm not giving him more ammunition," Lilly argued heatedly.

"I've gone on several undercover missions with Cyanne," Hotch said. "If I were to trust anyone else besides Morgan in a situation like she's suggesting, it would be her."

"If you trust Morgan so much, why not use him?" Horatio asked.

"Hey, believe me, if there was any way that I could pass for Cyanne, I would," Morgan said. "But she's just about as white as they come, and she's blonde. Not that there's anything wrong with that," he added quickly to JJ and Lilly.

"I trust her," Lilly said suddenly. Horatio stared at her as if she was crazy. Lilly walked past him and looked up at Aaron Hotchner, who stood nearly half a foot taller. "But if you let her get hurt, if any of you let her get hurt," she turned so that every member of the BAU met her diamond-hard gaze, "I will end all of you."

"Then it's settled," Callia was nonchalant. "Let's fail in our attempts to make this completely safe for her."

* * *

><p>"No, try this instead."<p>

"No, try this instead."

"No, try this instead."

"No, let's go to Macy's instead."

Blaine sighed. "Kurt, don't you think you're being a little bit too picky?"

Kurt pulled his chin in the air. "You can never be too picky about fashion, Blaine."

"Kurt, the mall closes in half an hour and I haven't even gotten to do the romantic things with you that I told Tina and Mercedes that I was going to."

"You** WHAT**?"

"Nothing," Blaine said quickly. "You said you wanted to go to Target?"

Kurt snorted. "That was before your mother gave us enough money to fix the debt. Or is it now?" he frowned, then shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

"Hey, Hummel," the boys whirled around to see Lauren walking toward them. "You're good with cars, right?" she looked a little shocked; the boys attributed this to walking a long distance. "I need your help. My car started smoking. I pushed it to the side of the road. I saw the mall and I remembered you were coming here. So, are you going to help me, or am I going to have to put you in a headlock?"

Kurt laughed nervously and backed away into an equally nervous Blaine. "Um, I guess I'll check your car over."

"I'm coming with you," Blaine said immediately. "Never know when you might need some extra help," he made sure to stand between Kurt and Lauren the entire time. When they finally got to her car, it was so dark that no one could really see Lauren turn around and press something cold to Kurt and Blaine's wrists. Kurt gasped behind him, and Blaine looked down. Even in the dim light, the glint off the handcuffs was clear.

Kurt gasped again when the car door opened felt cold metal pressed to his temple.

"Come inside or I'll shoot you both," said Zizes. "Good job, Lauren," he added almost as an afterthought.

"Please, let Kurt go, Lauren. You're his friend," Blaine said more bravely than he felt. "Let him go and I'll go with you without a fight, I promise."

Kurt gasped again. "Blaine, no!"

"I said shut up," the figure raised the gun. By now, Blaine's eyes had adjusted enough to see and he moved so that the gun clipped the side of his head, hard. It hurt, but it wasn't serious.

Kurt's breath came out in an agonized sob, and Blaine understood that his vision had adjusted too, enough to see the blood soaking Blaine's shirt.

"It'll go easier if you just come quietly," Lauren said. "Thanks, Dad."

Zizes was a blond man with clear, icy blue eyes and something that could have been kindness spread across his face as he regarded his daughter. He couldn't possibly be the dark-eyed Lauren's father, and this subdued girl couldn't possibly be Lauren. Kurt didn't wonder long, because Zizes took Blaine's chin and forced them to meet eye to unfocused eye.

"I saw your mother on the news. She's trying to find me again," Zizes said.

Blaine started to quake. "Please, **please**, leave my mother alone. Leave Kurt alone, please, I'll do anything. I'll do anything."

Zizes chuckled. "I have too much unfinished business with your mother to leave it alone."

"W-what do you m-me-mean?" Blaine stammered.

The man sighed. "Lauren, drive their car far away, will you?

Lauren looked at Kurt. "Keys," she said flatly, holding out her hand.

"Are you crazy?" Kurt retorted. "No!" he started to cross his arms over his chest, but when he saw that he would have to accommodate Blaine's hand, he stopped.

Lauren shrugged and punched Blaine in the stomach. The blow took him by surprise. Pain exploded against his stomach, doubling him over and driving the breath from his lungs. He coughed, sank into her fist, and hissed between clenched teeth, his brow furrowed. He clutched at his stomach, thinking he'd been shot. To his astonishment, it had only been a kidney punch.

The sight of Blaine's pain made Kurt's chest hurt. "Here," Kurt fished his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Lauren, who smirked and ran off. Kurt turned to Zizes. "Why are you doing this?" the countertenor demanded.

Zizes chuckled a little. "Fiesty, aren't you?" He turned back to Blaine. "Your mother is the reason I had to relocate. She found my trashcan and claimed that the vermin I exterminated were people. She drove me out of the state!" Zizes stopped to take a few deep breaths and calm himself. "Of course, she had to move too, after she turned in her own gang," he said to get a rise out of Blaine. He was not disappointed.

"My mother was not in a gang," Blaine yelled.

Zizes slapped Kurt, who grunted in pain, and Blaine backed off immediately.

"Look, if you're so determined to get back at my mother, you don't need Kurt," he pleaded.

"Blaine, shut up," Kurt replied.

Tears began falling out of Blaine's eyes. "Please? Let him go, please!"

"But I **do** need you both. I have to continue the mission your mother put on hold. I have to cleanse the world of its impurities, like homosexuality. I only picked **you** two specifically to send a message to your mother."

Blaine leaned against the backseat. This was all his fault. If Kurt hadn't been with him, he'd be free right now.

Kurt winced beside him, looking at the wound on Blaine's head. Both boys vowed right then to do whatever they had to, to keep the other safe.

* * *

><p>Back at home, Burt, Carole, and Finn were watching the nightly news. It had become a family tradition after the police invaded Hummel's Tires and Lube.<p>

"That's right," Rod Remington's overly-coiffed hair was starting to droop, "it appears that the resurgence of the Buttonwillow Butcher coincides with the first public appearance Pearl Rush has made in years."

The screen turned to some grainy footage of bodies being wheeled out of a hole.

"Everyone remembers the nearly one hundred bodies the Buttonwillow Butcher left behind, but few people knew the identity of the girl who made the 911 call, until now."

The 911 call played again.

"That was an almost fifteen-year-old Pearl Rush, back when she was a member of the Fauna gang that terrorized a large portion of the Northwest. Seeing all the carnage, however, the former criminal Rush turned her life around and has now embraced a life of crime-fighting instead."

On-screen, Cyanne ducked her head as the Buttonwillow press snapped up all it could of its risen demon.

"However, she may never escape the shadow of the Butcher, who has already claimed four more victims. Now, let's take a look at the weather."

"A serial killer after his mother. Like he needs more stress in his life, poor kid," Carole made several sympathetic noises.

"It's nearly 11:00," Burt growled at the clock. "Where the hell are those boys?"

"You know how Kurt gets," Carole tried to calm him despite her own growing fears.

"He knows his curfew's 10:30, and with Blaine's mother working in the FBI, while there's a serial killer out there, his curfew's probably even earlier."

"Blaine doesn't have a curfew," Finn said offhandedly. "He said that once in Glee. Or in French. I can't really tell the difference."

"That's not the point, Finn," Burt began, but gave up as he moved off the couch and toward the phone. "I'm going to call that Glee girl he's always talking to, Portia."

"Mercedes," Carole corrected him absentmindedly as she rearranged the couch cushions.

Two hours and one entire Glee Club later. Burt was legitimately worried.

* * *

><p>"911. What is your emergency?"<p>

"My son's been gone for five hours. It's not like him."

"What's his name?"

"Kurt Hummel."

Adla Bef straightened in her chair. "The boyfriend of Blaine Rush, Kurt Hummel?"

"Yeah."

There was a pause. "I'm going to call Agent Rush."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Rachel, it's Mercedes. Have you seen Kurt?"<p>

"No."

"Have you called him at all?"

"No. I called Finn a few minutes ago, but he said Kurt wasn't home and that his dad was getting really angry."

"Okay. Well, try him again. I'm going to call Sam."

"What is it between you and Sam? You two never seem to stop talking. I think it's getting to be a serious problem. If it takes your focus off of our performances-"

"Girl, you need to know when to shut the hell up."

* * *

><p>"Why am I not being allowed to help with the planning?" Ceinwen yelled at her father from across outside the room.<p>

"Because you like to take unnecessary risks," Horatio's reply was succinct.

"Oh, come on, Daddy. I know how to take care of myself!"

"Just like you knew how to take care of yourself when you were in Montana? And why are you so pale?"

"Dad, that was a fluke! And I feel a little weird, probably because no one will let me help." Ceinwen's phone rang and she snapped back into profiling mode. "Hello? Yes, this is Agent Rush," Cyanne greeted Det. Bef coolly. Five words were all it took to turn the agent into an abjectly terrified mother. "Wait, **what**? Well, when and where?"

* * *

><p>"Yeah, I'm on my way to the mall now," Tina said from the passenger side of Mike's car early the next morning. "We're almost there; we're passing the Halfway Ho-" she suddenly stopped talking to Artie, screamed, and pointed at a horribly familiar car.<p>

* * *

><p>Blaine:<em> "I love you also means I love you more than anyone loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that no one loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that I love no one else, and never have loved anyone else, and never will love anyone else."~Jonathan Safran Foer.<em>

* * *

><p><em>I don't know why I haven't had Blaine do a quote before now. But I hope you like the chapter. I'm afraid I'm adding too many characters. This happened in <span>Love211<span> too. -facepalm-_

_On a positive note, __I'm feeling a lot better, so thank you guys for your kind "get well" messages._

_Next time, a few people pull disappearing acts, Finn reacts violently, and Kurt and Blaine discuss escape. We're approaching the end here, people. I think three more chapters._


	6. Grey Room

_Thank you livvylovesyou and 256 for reviewing! You have no idea how much your reviews encourage me! OhMyGlee55, I hope this is a more reasonable hour to update. (It's 4:00ish here in Cali.) Stupidamericanidioms91, I hope I didn't insult your cousin in some way last night. I was trying to make a joke and I'm sorry if it backfired worse than Blaine's advice._

_Why is Lauren's father named Ray Seetub Zizes? Reh C. Tub=Butcher backwards._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the song "Grey Room" by Damien Rice, used in the Criminal Minds episode "Ashes and Dust." I love that episode. I think it might be my favorite._

* * *

><p><em>"Have I still got you to be my open door?<em>  
><em>Have I still got you to be my sandy shore?<em>  
><em>Have I still got you to cross my bridge in this storm?<em>  
><em>Have I still got you to keep me warm?"<em>

Chapter VI: Grey Room

Kurt and Blaine didn't speak for the whole ride to a house near the middle of nowhere. Blaine had a difficult enough time simply holding it together and Kurt wanted to close his eyes and pretend to be anywhere but here. It wasn't until they stopped and the man placed the gun to Kurt's side that anyone spoke.

"If your finger slips," Blaine's voice was the coldest Kurt had ever heard it, "I will kill myself and you will never, never get revenge."

The man shrugged and seemed to look around for a place to put them. His eyes lit up when he found a closet large enough for both boys. He flung both boys in, undid their handcuffs, and put something over the closet door so they wouldn't budge when Blaine pushed on them.

"Has he left us to die?" Kurt asked, hating how badly his voice shook.

"No," Blaine's voice made it clear that he had given up all hope that his life would be anything other than a nightmare. "He strangles victims. Mother says that serial killers rarely stray from their set pattern."

"Well, he's already told us that we're special victims," Kurt said, shivering.

Blaine moved as close as he could to Kurt without being him. "Kurt, you're not going to be a victim."

Kurt shook his head. "There's no way I'm going to take a back seat to this. I couldn't protect you last time. I'm going to do this the right way."

"No, don't you see? He doesn't want to kill us. Not right away."

Kurt looked confused for only a moment before blinding realization hit him. "Oh," was all he could say. "He wants to use us to lure your mother."

Blaine nodded. "I don't think he's going to hurt us until she gets here, and she'll save us," Pearl's son said confidently. At the moment, he felt anything but.

* * *

><p>"Guys," Pearl burst into the room in tears and shaking, "my son and his boyfriend were abducted sometime last night."<p>

Everyone looked at each other completely frozen for a second, before bursting into a flurry of activity.

"We have three points for a geographical profile now," Reid said to himself as he grabbed a map. "Do you know where he disappeared from?"

"The mall," Pearl tried and failed to pretend Blaine was just another potential victim. "Det. Bef gave me the address."

"Well, there's no way this is unrelated," Rossi said, far too calmly for Lilly and Horatio's liking. "A girl makes the world aware of this man's existence, and now her son's been kidnapped."

"The boyfriend's sexuality probably plays a factor, too," Hotch added, reminding them all that Blaine was gay.

"I mean, we're talking about the man who killed a woman the day after her abortion. He's definitely going to see homosexuality as a crime," Morgan said.

"A crime he would have to deal with as a mission killer," JJ realized breathlessly.

"You're all right," Callia stood. "The UNSUB picked Blaine and Kurt for their relationship with each other, but it's their relationship with my niece that's going to help us catch them."

"How?" Morgan asked. "The UNSUB and his accomplice blitz attack two victims. The fact that their bodies haven't been found just means that their organs are still being removed." Everyone was so focused on the loss of the child of one of their own that they didn't see their own slip outside.

"No," Callia shook her head. "He's going to want to use Cyanne as an example, and what better way to lure her to him than by holding her son?"

"I hope you're right," Reid said. "I would've fallen completely apart in that cabin if Cyanne hadn't taken the brunt of the torture. If she loses her son," he shook his head. No one wanted to finish the sentence or consider the possibility.

"We have to work fast," Prentiss said.

"We have to work in Lima," JJ added. "I'll get the jet."

It wasn't until the jet had already landed that anyone brought up the fact that Pearl was no longer there.

* * *

><p>Puck felt a little sick when he saw the news report. Lauren had driven here in Blaine's car, but why? And why did she bolt when he asked about the car?<p>

* * *

><p>"Why would the UNSUB choose to dump these bodies in Philadelphia?" asked Prentiss.<p>

"Who gives a shit? Where is my daughter? And where on God's green earth is my grandson?" Lilly looked on the verge of hysterics.

"Det. Rush, a profile is our best chance of finding them, and if you don't understand that, I suggest you cool off in the Lima Hotel," Hotch said sternly.

"You think we're too close to the case," Horatio walked up to Hotch and both tried to stare the other down. "You have a child. What would you do to protect that child?"

Hotch nodded. "Alright, you can stay. But if either of you compromise our team-"

"We won't, sir," Lilly said stiffly.

Hotch turned to Reid. "How's the geographical profile coming along?"

"I've narrowed it down to a ten-mile radius based on dump sites and abduction sites," said Reid. "I'm sorry, I can't do anything more."

"That's fine," Hotch turned to Prentiss. "Finding out the significance of the dumpsites is our second priority right now," he said. "We need to find the child Stella Keyes was carrying. He could be the accomplice. How is Garcia doing with the birth records?" Hotch asked Morgan.

"Way ahead of you, sir," Garcia's voice buzzed from the laptop. "Stella Keyes gave birth to a Lauren Keyes fifteen years ago."

Everyone seemed to pause. "Fifteen years ago, that's when the murders are presumed to have first started, right?" Lilly asked fearfully.

Hotch nodded grimly. "That's the first trigger; Keyes' pregnancy convinced our UNSUB he had to clean the streets for her daughter."

"Agent Garcia, can you find any other records of Lauren Keyes?" Horatio inquired.

"Nope. She seems to disappear," Garcia's voice is confused.

"Garcia, who's the father?" Hotch asked.

"The birth certificate lists a Ray Seetub Zizes."

"Do you have a current residence?"

Garcia's fast fingers could not type faster than everyone's racing hearts. "Yes!" she cried and gave it to them as Hotch called the local police. Thankfully, kidnapping gave the BAU automatic jurisdiction. After the cars sped all the way to the house, Morgan got ready to kick down the door. Horatio and Lilly stepped in front of him and pushed down nearly the entire wall with their hands with sheer desperation.

"Clear!" rang out from every room in the house. Horatio noticed the imprint of a pair of handcuffs on the couch, as if someone had recently lifted it off the couch.

"There's no one here," Lilly said, leaving a room with a completely blank and hopeless expression that frightened Horatio to no end.

The house was empty.

* * *

><p>Lauren knew the second the BAU entered her haven. She wasn't a terrifying spy for no reason. When Taylor Lautner had finally moved to Los Angeles, it was to a bugged house. Just visuals—Lauren didn't care much for his voice. She just liked to know what he was doing.<p>

Right now, she knew her father was scouring the papers for news of Pearl. She appeared to have disappeared within hours of Blaine and Kurt's abduction. That couldn't be a coincidence. Her father expected her to kill them, and for the first time in her life, Lauren was unsure if she could. Yes, the prostitute and her client had been easy. The woman had commented on her weight, and not in a nice way. And the two druggies, well they looked so terrible that Lauren was easily able to convince herself that she was doing them both favors. But Kurt was a sensitive, spirited soprano, and the smarmy prep-school kid made him happy. She didn't want to hurt either of them. But what choice did she have?

Wait, what the hell was going on in the camera she installed in the closet?

* * *

><p>"Blaine," Kurt shifted uncomfortably. "It's really hot." Wood, particularly thick wood, didn't tend to breathe very well.<p>

"I know," Blaine's breathing was growing labored as well.

"If I take my shirt off…" Kurt bit his lip and looked up nervously.

"I won't feel uncomfortable," Blaine wished his intimacy issues hadn't been exacerbated by the attack last year, but Kurt's comfort could never bother him.

"No, I mean I'll feel uncomfortable, because the last time I was naked in front of you," Kurt buried his face in Blaine's neck. Blaine moved next to Kurt, sweating heavily as he did so. "Kurt, I love you. Please, if you feel uncomfortable in the heat, take your clothes off. My mother's good, Kurt. She helped save us last time. She'll get us out of this too."

Kurt smiled faintly and peeled off his shirt and pants. "If you want to do this too," he said quietly, "I won't react inappropriately."

Blaine remembered Kurt's nauseous reaction to seeing his body. But the closet was dim, so it should be safe to be shirtless. He took off everything except his boxers.

Kurt sucked in a breath and his shaking fingers reached out, stopping inches from Blaine's skin. Blaine suddenly shivered, and Kurt withdrew both his fingers and his gaze. Blaine worked furiously to fail at suppressing a half-sob that caused Kurt to hurriedly reassure him that he didn't find Blaine disgusting, only the crimes that had been committed against him. They sat like that for a few minutes before exploring their new prison. They found a half-empty bottle of water, which was nearly gone now, and it was a while before Blaine looked at the crack between the doors. He saw two thin wires, and realized it was a clothes-hanger Zizes had placed over the door. "Kurt, I think I can get us out of here," he said suddenly. He pushed on a single door, and sure enough, it moved before the hanger locked into place. Unfortunately, the space wasn't large enough for Blaine to fit through. He looked at Kurt appraisingly.

"I used to be in the Cheerios," Kurt sniffed, as if affronted that Blaine would think him unfit for the occasion. "We learned how to move through a lot of things." He squeezed his way through the space and closed the door before removing the clothes-hanger. Immediately, the door flew open and Blaine walked out. They both put their clothes back on as quietly as they could, trying not to attract the attention of anyone inside the house. They didn't know that it wasn't anyone inside the house that they had to worry about as they ran to the front door and pushed it open to sweet freedom…or not.

* * *

><p>Burt and Carole were sleeping fitfully on different chairs when Det. Sai called to tell them that Blaine's car had been found.<p>

"There's no one in it, and there's not blood, but the FBI's best forensic technicians are looking for prints, hairs, and fibers as I speak," she said. "A resident of the Halfway House called it in, someone named Dave Karofsky." Bria Sai frowned. She felt like someone was watching her.

The way Burt and Carole both exclaimed "Dave Karofsky!" would have been comical had the situation not been serious. The thundering of footsteps and the squeal of a car peeling away so quickly that tire marks would remain on the pavement for weeks told them that Finn had heard.

And now he was after Karofsky.

* * *

><p>Lauren grabbed for Kurt, but Blaine pushed him out of the way, so Lauren grabbed the shorter boy instead and threw him as hard as she could against the wall. He felt something in his leg give with a sickening crack. It hurt like a bitch on fire and a scream was ripped from his throat.<p>

"Blaine!" Kurt ran to as if Lauren wasn't even there and hugged his boyfriend close. "Blaine, it'll be okay," he rocked them back and forth. Lauren took the handcuffs from her pocket and Blaine's eyes widened. Kurt turned and looked like he was going to attack her. Lauren sat on Blaine's leg and he heard another snap. He groaned because it hurt so badly, and Kurt stopped struggling, instead letting Lauren cuff him and move the cuffs to the handle of the dishwasher before cuffing Blaine. She checked the time and left Kurt comforting Blaine.

* * *

><p>"Guys, I know we're all upset over Kurt and Blaine's abduction," Will was never good at being comforting. "But they wouldn't want any of us to feel guilty."<p>

"We don't feel guilty," Artie said viciously. "We just want to beat the hell out of whoever did it." He didn't see Lauren physically flinch, no one did.

Mercedes raised her hand. "I don't mean to make anybody worry or anything, but where are Finn and Puck?"

As if to answer half her question, Principal Figgins walked by between a thoroughly beaten-up Finn and Karofsky. The entire Glee Club gasped and raced out into the halls. Will forced them to give him an opening and ran after Figgins.

"What the hell happened?" Will asked, all traces of propriety gone.

"These two were having a fight," Figgins pointed to the two football players. From the bruises and blood on their faces and knuckles, "fight" was the understatement of the century.

"Because this douche took my brother and won't tell me where he is!" Finn yelled, fist already making its way to Karofsky's face.

"I told you I don't know where your little princess is," Karofsky protested as he mostly ducked the blow and got ready to punch Finn in the gut. Will and Figgins stepped between them before any more damage could be done.

"His car was parked right in front of that place you live!" Finn yelled, ready to swing again.

"Stop it, both of you," Will said. "Now, these killings started when you kids were just being born, so let's not accuse each other, alright?" He turned to the Glee Club. "Now, we're going to go inside and-" he stopped. "Guys, did anyone see where Lauren went?"

Everyone looked around and realized that the wrestling queen was missing. Outside, Lauren was running. There was only one person she could talk to, and it was the boy who had driven Kurt's car to the Halfway House to throw suspicion off of her.

* * *

><p>Kurt: <em>"Sacrificing your happiness for the happiness of the one you love, is by far, the truest type of love."~Chief Edward F. Croker.<em>

* * *

><p><em>I hope you liked it! We're definitely approaching the end here. If I can fit it all into one chapter without going off into random tangents, next time Lauren will confess to Puck, Puck will make a stupid decision, and Pearl will an even stupider one. And I said Pearl was going to kill somebody. I lied. Zizes is going to remove her organs while she's still alive and conscious so she can feel every stroke. Don't worry; she'll be fine.<em>

_Pretty pretty please, don't you really really feel/Like reviewing? (To the tune of Pink's "Fucking Perfect.")_


	7. The Moment I Said It

_Hello, guys, I'm back, and I'm going to be updating like mad (both this story and a deeper exploration of Karofsky's suicide in Sam's Town, which will soon be named after my friend's favorite song) for the next few days. I won't be updating Friday because I have to go down to Santa Barbara (where my friend used to live) to attend his funeral, so I probably won't be updating again this weekend. Thanks for understanding, you guys. Thank you so much._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the song "The Moment I Said It" by Imogen Heap used in Criminal Minds episode "Seven Seconds."_

_Also, huge warning for organ removal, graphic descriptions of blood, and definitely excessive violence in this chapter. Mia almost threw up when I finished writing that scene. I'm going to warn you guys again when you get to it, and then after the page break you can safely read again._

* * *

><p>Chapter VII: The Moment I Said It<p>

"The serial killer Blaine's mother left to find," Lauren blurted out in a rush, "is my father."

"What?" Puck heard "Blaine," "kill," and "father." "Blaine killed your father?"

"No," Lauren was getting frustrated. "The serial killer Blaine's mother is trying to find is my dad," she said, taking a deep breath.

Puck froze. "What, you gotta be kidding me. Your dad is the Buttonwillow Butcher?"

Lauren nodded. "Kurt and Blaine are at my house right now, and my dad's disappeared. I have no idea why."

Puck leaned against the doorway. "You didn't hear that Pearl's disappeared?"

Lauren's mouth fell open. "He's out there looking for her. And when he finds her, he's going to come back, which means he's going to expect the boys to already be dead," she said to herself. She covered her face with her hands. "I can't kill them. They're good, not just for each other but for the world. I've never seen them do anything malicious on purpose, and my whole life's been dedicated to erasing the malicious." She gave an un-Lauren-like shriek. "I can't take it anymore! I need help! I can't disappoint my dad!"

Most people would have responded, "Why the hell not?" but Noah Puckerman wasn't most teenagers. He knew all too well the sting of feeling like one has disappointed Daddy Dearest. And so he pulled Lauren together for a kiss. Lauren broke the kiss abruptly when she saw the police cruisers stationed outside the Halfway House from down the street. Her eyes grew huge.

"They've found me," she pushed him away and made to run.

Puck had never seen Lauren vulnerable like this. Hell, he had never seen her vulnerable, period. So what could he do but reach for her a few seconds too late?

Down the street, Det. Sai spotted the odd look on Lauren's face when their eyes met, and moved to tell Morgan about it. Her concerns were brushed off, so she went to Det. Bef and they managed to slip away unnoticed by the car-focused agents.

* * *

><p>"Can you tell me where we're going, Agent Rush?" Det. Gadhavi's polite tone was a little odd considering the fact that he was blindfolded in the backseat of Pearl's car.<p>

Pearl swallowed. "Blaine talks about the Glee Club a lot, and I distinctly remember him mentioning a girl named Lauren Zizes."

Det. Gadhavi stiffened, and Pearl reached over to remove the blindfold. "That doesn't answer my question," Det. Gadhavi said.

Pearl was silent for such a long time that Det. Gadhavi started to squirm. "I want to go to the Lima PD. They probably won't be as tight-lipped about her address." She turned the corner and stopped. "I need you to go get them. Don't let my team know I'm here."

"Shouldn't you be with your team?"

"My team would be more concerned with my safety than that of my son, and that is not something I find acceptable. But you want to be Chief of Buttonwillow Police, don't you? Or even the Indiana Bureau of Investigation?" Pearl's tone was vaguely threatening. "I can make it happen," she promised.

With a hard stare, Det. Gadhavi left. It took a lot less time than he expected to get the two Lima police officers to join Pearl in the car ride back to the police station, where all four investigators were soon engaged in searching public records.

"I've got it!" Det. Sai wrote it down. The detectives high-fived each other and cheered until they realized Pearl, the address, and Det. Sai's police radio were missing.

* * *

><p>Puck paced back and forth. Tell the cops and get Lauren arrested for murder, or don't tell the copes and make Lauren kill Kurt and Blaine, or don't tell the cops and get Lauren killed by her father by refusing to let her kill Kurt and Blaine.<p>

Puck straightened his shoulders and opened the door, only to walk directly into Blaine's surprisingly strong mother.

Wow, talk about a mother he'd like to fuck. Pearl Rush had shoulder-length red-blond curls, high cheekbones, a slender build, a long neck, a rosy complexion, and perfect skin. He started to lean down, then noticed that her lips were the color of blood and drew away. Her eyes were lined in black, like she had suffered several sleepless nights, and her skin was so pale, it didn't look human. Puck felt along the sides of his Mohawk, suddenly scared. This woman was a leader, and he wouldn't be able to control her to act in Lauren's best interest.

"Hello, Noah Puckerman," she said.

"Look, I know who has your son and Kurt," Puck said. "I just don't know where they are."

"No problem," Pearl grinned, her white teeth unusually sharp. "I do." Before Puck even knew it, he was pulled inside her car.

"Damn, this is a sweet ride," he said as she simultaneously broke every traffic law in Ohio.

"If you help me get my son and Kurt out alive, I will give you this damn car," Pearl said.

Puck stared at her oddly. "You'd just give me, what, fifty grand?"

"Forty-one grand," Pearl corrected. Puck stared at her, impressed, and shut up so she could concentrate on returning to her criminal roots. It paid off, and they arrived at a house listed under the name Lauren Zizes, spraying gravel everywhere.

"Stay in the car," Pearl instructed as she undid her seatbelt.

"Are you fucking crazy? My girlfriend is in there!" Puck pointed.

Pearl turned to him, beautiful and terrifying. "Your girlfriend took my son and delivered him to a known killer. You will stay in this car and give my team our location until I say otherwise."

"Damn," Puck muttered after she turned away. If that woman were in charge of the military, the Iraq War would never have happened. "Wait, how are you going to communicate with me in the car if you're in the house?" Puck asked. Pearl threw him Det. Sai's police radio, but no answers, before she walked to the front door and rang the bell. Her body language seemed different. Both Quinn and Santana would be proud of the Ice Queen she had become. Still, there was no point in thinking about the Cheerios, and Puck waited until the door opened to turn the radio on.

"Um, I'm Noah Puckerman. Um, this really badass chick just gave me this and told me to tell the Bayou or something to come here. Wait, who am I talking to?"

"This is the Lima Nursing Home. Are you on Alzheimer's medication? Stay there, we'll get your location using our GPS," said the woman on the other side of the line. Puck cursed. Someone in the background sounded like Sue Sylvester, but he ignored that and turned the radio off.

* * *

><p>Further away, Cyanne let herself into Lauren's house. "Lauren Keyes," Cyanne greeted the dark-eyed girl in front of her without a trace of irony.<p>

"What?" Lauren blinked first. "What are you doing here?"

"I followed you from Noah Puckerman's house," Cyanne waved to Kurt in the kitchen, Ice Queen persona fully in place. "Hello, Kurt. Your brother punched Dave Karofsky in the face."

Lauren's lip curled in a sneer. "You didn't tell anyone where you were headed."

"I'm sure that by the time your father gets here, my team will have arrived as well," Cyanne said calmly.

"If they get here even a second after my father does, you'll be dead," Lauren's hands curled into fists.

"Mother!" Blaine hollered. Cyanne turned to see Kurt blocking something from view. Something changed in her face. A second car crunched over the gravel driveway.

Lauren must have seen the expression Pearl wore. "Is Puck in your car?" Lauren asked.

Pearl didn't get a chance to respond before the door swung open. Zizes' mouth fell open in shock before he put both hands on Pearl's neck. Blaine and Kurt screamed, and Blaine tugged on the handcuffs so hard, he almost broke his wrist.

Pearl would have kicked herself if she weren't too busy trying to kick Zizes. She had let the Ice Queen mask slip for a second, and now her pretty white throat was paying the price.

Except it wasn't. Despite Zizes' strength, he couldn't snap her neck. He tugged her head so hard to one side that he felt the crack everyone else in the room could hear.

"Ow! That hurt, you asshole!" Pearl fought back harder, still not dead. Zizes realized this was a good thing and picked her up. She still kept up her retaliating assault; there were definitely going to be bruises everywhere tomorrow.

"Lauren," he looked at his daughter when he started having difficulty holding on to the woman. Lauren opened her mouth, almost ready to refuse, but Pearl winked and the wrestler grabbed the mother's flailing legs.

Blaine looked at Kurt, panic in his eyes. The struggle was beginning to knock things over. Something sailed over both boys' heads and landed in the sink. Lauren and Zizes were too preoccupied to notice, so Kurt stood up and saw Zizes' gun. He turned; Lauren and Zizes were too busy strapping Pearl down to see him take the gun.

"Kurt, they're coming!" Blaine warned. Kurt stuffed the gun in his socks. He didn't want to use it. He really didn't, so he didn't struggle when Lauren and Zizes freed them from the dishwasher and moved them to the cold room where they had, until now, only brought corpses.

**[Proceed at your own risk!]**

Kurt smelled the alarming amounts of blood that had been spilled in the room and his head spun alarmingly. Blaine saw Zizes flex his hand and reach for Kurt, so he picked up his boyfriend, weeping from the pain and effort.

Zizes waited until both boys were inside the room to pick up his scalpel, his intentions obvious. "Now, I'm not a monster, Lauren," he said, deciding that torturing Pearl was more important than torturing the boys. "Kill the boys please."

Lauren nodded, but Pearl caught her eye, and mouthed "Yes" to the question asked just before Zizes entered. Lauren walked over and took a few towels, left over from the days when she would have constant accidents. The way she stuffed them in Blaine's mouth as he struggled made it look like she was choking him with it, and she held him still so he couldn't make a sound or struggle.

Zizes sliced into Pearl's stomach. The skin was softer, but for some reason it was harder to cut than the skin of the corpses he was used to. He shrugged the fact off; living bodies were obviously different than dead ones. He felt the warmth of blood slip through his fingers. If it wasn't as warm as he expected, he didn't notice. But it was hard not to notice how Pearl was struggling far harder than he expected. Even when he had already taken out her kidneys and uterus.

When Zizes took out her liver, Blaine made a noise of protest and Kurt finally found the courage to open his eyes. The was exactly the shape Kurt had seen in textbooks, although a bit more greasy and bloody. He saw Zizes place the organ into an icebox, and he knew what he had to do. He reached into his sock, drew his gun, and fired at Zizes' chest. His arm jerked up and the bullet went through Zizes' eye instead. The man's head jerked back and something purplish-red splattered from the back of his head to the wall as he fell. For a few moments, all Kurt could hear was his own racing heartbeat and the echo of the gun. Then there was another boom from another part of the house and Lauren began to scream.

"You killed my father!" she was completely ready to tear his head off, but the door flew open and Agent Morgan pulled her off Kurt and held her down while Prentiss began to console the girl. Horatio, Hotch, Reid, and Det. Gadhavi ran to undo Pearl's bonds. JJ picked up an icebox, opened it, and shut it closed immediately before vomiting on the ground. Reid's wife ran in and pressed several cloths to Pearl's abdomen to stem the rather profuse bleeding.

"I need more towels!" she yelled.

Lilly and Callia ran to the captive boys. Callia lifted Blaine while Lilly made sure to keep his leg steady as Det. Bef came by with more towels for the bleeding. Det. Sai moved Kurt over to the ambulances waiting outside. Rossi took one look at Zizes' body on the ground and knew it was too late.

"We need to get her organs back inside her!" Varda yelled. Reid grabbed the boxes, Horatio held Pearl's upper torso, Hotch held her legs, and Det. Gadhavi made sure to keep her midsection as still as possible so Varda and Det. Bef wouldn't have to clean up quite as much blood. Varda climbed into the ambulance with Pearl once she was put on the stretcher, and everyone was left wondering just how everything went to hell so quickly.

* * *

><p>Hotch spotted Pearl's car first, and he opened the door with so much force, he wrenched half the door off the car. Puck stared at him, open-mouthed, but the first words out of his mouth were still "Dude, you just broke my car."<p>

Det. Sai somehow managed to hide her snickering. Hotch, however, was not laughing. "You radioed us in," he stated the fact.

Puck nodded, frozen in fear.

"Why?" Hotch crossed his arms.

Puck broke down and told him all Lauren had confessed to him. "She told me who her dad was. She said she had Kurt and Blaine at her house and her dad was looking for some place to bury them. When she left the house, she said she was going to kill him, so I walked after her and I ran into Blaine's mom—who's really hot, did you know?—and I told her all this, so she drove me here and told me to radio you guys after she could go inside because she didn't want you to tell her something she couldn't listen to. I guess she didn't want to disobey you, but she didn't want her kid to die or anything either." If he clenched his fist and tears filled his eyes at the word "kid," Hotch didn't call him out on it.

The BAU leader merely nodded. "Det. Bef, make sure he gives you guys his statement. Each SUV can fit five. Anyone coming to the hospital can get in the one I'm driving."

Horatio, Lilly, Callia, and Reid got into Hotch's car and he drove them to the hospital. By the time they all arrived, Kurt and Blaine had been given IV fluids for their dehydration and shock, and Blaine's leg had been set in a cast.

"Blaine!" Horatio ran over and hugged his grandson. "Oh, you are so brave, you are so brave," he said over and over, embrace tight enough to suffocate.

Lilly was a little less demonstrative and settled for putting one hand on Blaine's shoulder as the other covered her mouth. Tears started streaming down her cheeks when one of Blaine's hands covered hers. Kurt looked at them with a wide smile, glad that Blaine's support network had increased tenfold.

"Is there anyone we should call? Anyone you want to see?" Callia asked, bending down to brush his hair out of his face.

"My mother," Blaine blurted out the first person he could think of.

"She's still in surgery," Hotch said, pacing. "The doctors said they won't be able to put all her organs back in." Everyone looked at each other, sharing looks of worry. The question hung over everyone's head until Callia finally voiced it.

"Well, what's she going to give up?"

* * *

><p>Lauren: "<em>The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise."~Alden Nowlen<em>

* * *

><p><em>I'm a little unsure of this because I'm still getting my feet back on the ground after not writing for a few days. Tell me how you felt about it! (In a review, perhaps? *nudge nudge*). Oh, and yes, the woman in the background was Jean Sylvester. I've ignored canon, shocker.<em>

_Next time, um, obviously we get to see Pearl get out of surgery. Please remember that Pearl has CIPA, so she can't really feel it, so whenever I feel like a story doesn't have enough violence I'll do something terrible to her to make up for it. It's also easier to make her a victim of excessive violence because she's half-vampire and therefore harder to kill than normal people._

_I would like to extend an apology to OhMyGlee55 that this is uploaded at (I think 2 or 3 am) again because I have been completely out of it for the last few days._


	8. When the Music's Not Forgotten

_Hello, guys! I can't believe you guys are still reading. Seriously, about every ten hits this story gets, I get another review and I feel so very lucky to have such incredible, proactive readers. Gosh, if every writer had an audience as awesome as you guys, the world would be a much happier place._

_There's also going to be some medical discussion here, which you shouldn't worry about except to know that there's more than one kind of pain medicine and it's completely possible to transplant a uterus successfully and to live without it and not even have hormonal changes._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the song "When the Music's Not Forgotten" by Deadman, used in Criminal Minds episodes "Unfinished Business" and "What Fresh Hell" in season one and "Children of the Dark" in season three._

* * *

><p>Chapter VIII: When the Music's Not Forgotten<p>

"Hello," Det. Gadhavi shook Burt, Finn, and Carole's hands firmly. "My name is Oleksander Gadhavi, and you already know Detectives Bef and Sai."

"What are you here to tell us?" asked Burt, cutting directly through the polite crap.

"We've found your son and Blaine. They're at the hospital now, and the killer has been apprehended," Det. Bef told them.

"When can we see Kurt?" Finn demanded.

"Right now, if you guys want to follow us in your car. Our police cruiser can't fit everyone," Det. Sai answered. The Hudmels and Det. Gadhavi filed into Burt's car and followed the LPD cruiser without complaint.

* * *

><p>"Why can't they just put all her organs in?" Blaine asked, bottom lip trembling a little.<p>

"They'll want to close up her abdomen as soon as they can to keep her from bleeding to death," Hotch answered. "By the time she can have surgery again, the organs won't be usable any more. They said they already put one of her kidneys back. Zizes also cut out her pancreas, but he didn't get to put it in an icebox before Kurt shot him."

"She can't live without her liver and at least one of her kidneys," Horatio paced back and forth. "How can they ask us which organs our daughter won't need?"

"You can live without a uterus," Lilly said suddenly. She smiled at Blaine. "We already have a grandson."

Horatio nodded. "I'll go tell them to throw it out."

"Not throw it out," Hotch said, checking his phone. "There's a woman who flew in from New York because she couldn't have children."

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "Well, I wish her luck. I hope Ceinwen doesn't know."

Horatio snorted. "Her own biological child. How could she not know?"

Lilly looked down just as Finn, Carole, and Burt walked in and immediately bombarded Kurt with hugs and love. The families introduced themselves, and the Hudson-Hummels expressed profound gratitude to everyone for finding Kurt before it was too late.

"It's our job, ma'am," Lilly blushed after Carole nearly broke down weeping.

"Well, here are some cookies. We just want to thank you," Carole said, offering them some from a plastic baggie, despite Kurt's usual calorie tantrum.

"Don't mind if I do," Horatio said, grabbing two and giving one to his wife. Callia, of course, refused, but Hotch took one and gave Carole an unusually enthusiastic review of her cooking, causing her to give Kurt an "I told you so" look.

"I made some too!" Finn said eagerly, taking out his bag of largely misshapen and unevenly cooked ones. Everyone just looked at them before bursting into laughter. Then Hotch's phone buzzed and he flipped it open. Immediately, he stopped laughing.

"What's going on?" Callia demanded, knowing that if she didn't ask, her taciturn husband would never answer.

"It was JJ. She's out of surgery." He stuffed the rest of the cookie in his mouth and walked down the hall.

"If she just got out of surgery, shouldn't she still be out from the anesthesia?" Burt asked, frowning from his lack of undesrtanding.

Hotch shook his head. "Her pancreas was removed, and corticosteroid pain relievers would cause her blood sugar to skyrocket. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain relievers won't be prescribed either because they cause abdominal bleeding and would add to kidney damage."

"And she's allergic to opioids," his wife added casually. "The doctors would know this and not give her any."

The Hudson-Hummels looked at each other in horror. "So, she has to have surgery completely conscious?" Finn asked, eyes wide.

When Callia nodded, Kurt turned to Blaine and saw how green his boyfriend looked. Lilly and Horatio shuddered and Callia rolled her eyes. "Really you guys baby her too much," she said derisively at Pearl's parents.

"I have to go see her," Blaine said, moving off his bed and into the wheelchair the doctors had placed next to it. Horatio pushed him as Blaine held Lilly's hand. The trio had not yet reached Pearl's room when they heard it.

"Give me your gun and security clearance."

* * *

><p>"It was definitely self-defense, Rossi," Morgan said.<p>

"He shot the man because he didn't have any other options," Callia agreed.

"There were two other people in the room," JJ disagreed.

"Blaine was tied up and had a broken leg and Lauren was the accomplice," Reid argued. "You could argue that he didn't see any other way to keep her from having more of her organs sliced out," his voice faltered a little on the last words.

"None of us are planning to file charges," Adla reassured the team.

"Puck should have called us right away, but he did eventually," Briana added, "and we've already mentioned that Blaine was incapacitated."

"None of the minors will be arrested," Adla concluded.

"Good," Prentiss said suddenly. Everyone realized how unnaturally silent she had been during the entire exchange.

"We're still going to be pressing charges against Lauren Zizes," Oleksander said, looking at her strangely. "There've been 102 deaths and three people were tortured." No one had to mention that the press would crucify law enforcement if no arrests were made.

"She watched her father kill her mother and one of her father's victim's kill him," Prentiss argued. "Her father had ten years to brainwash her!"

"Her father was the original perpetrator, there's no denying that, but there have been four murders since then, and at least two of those are hers," Oleksander argued.

Prentiss shook her head, wondering why she was playing the devil's advocate.

* * *

><p>"Your actions put not only your life but the lives of your son and Kurt Hummel in danger," Hotch's face was stern.<p>

"No, I didn't. Ray Zizes was searching for a place to dump my son while he was being throw around by Lauren Zizes. I brought Noah Puckerman-"

"Involving a civilian is always dangerous and never advisable."

"I told him to stay in the car and radio you guys in while I distract the UNSUB and his accomplice! I did this so nobody else would get hurt!" Pearl yelled.

Hotch sat down next to her bed. "You were thinking like a mother, not a profiler. Until you can be a profiler again, I don't want you on my team. You have 48 hours after you're discharged from the hospital to give me your gun and security clearance."

Pearl nodded. Even she knew that what Hotch said was true. Until she could ignore her mother side to be a profiler, she could easily create another disaster like she did today. "I know my actions weren't well thought-out, Hotch," she admitted. Hotch nodded, knowing she had more to say. "But I'm not sorry, and I would do it again, knowing that this was going to be the consequence. _If we stand on a hill and do not touch, how can we do good? If we wash our hands of all our friends, what change can really come? If we hide our fears and don't draw near, have we really lived? Or are we all just standing here, hoping there is grace?_"

Hotch stared down at her for a long time, long enough for the meekness in Pearl's response to reveal itself as calculating concern. He unexpectedly uncrossed his arms and smiled, sitting down beside her bed. "There are some people here to see you," he turned to the door.

Horatio and Lilly pushed Blaine in and Pearl gasped. "Blaine, should you be moving? How's your leg?"

Blaine looked incredulous. His mother was very pale. He had seen the bodies of the children who hadn't obeyed the man who bought them and brought them to Ann Arbor, and she was paler and looked far more beat-up than the dead had. "You were fully conscious while four of your organs were put back in your body and you want to know how **I** feel?"

Pearl looked almost affronted. Scratch that, she **did** look affronted. "Blaine, you're my son. I always want to know how you feel. And besides, it's kind of interesting watching your own surgery. I always make a game of it with the doctors, see if I can name the specific part of the liver they're stitching."

Pearl's parents were barely able to move Blaine before he threw up.

* * *

><p>"Lauren Zizes?" Prentiss looked at the girl in the holding cell. Everyone avoided her, and for once it had nothing to do with the size of her person so much as it did the size of her reputation as the daughter and accomplice of a killer who had terrorized the entire country.<p>

Lauren looked up, eyes barely registering a flicker of recognition for the agent. Prentiss was about to give up when Lauren said, in the quietest voice Prentiss had ever heard, "You're the agent, the one who was nice to me this morning."

"Yes, I guess so," Prentiss said.

Lauren stood up slowly. "You should have let me kill him," her voice contained a fury that Prentiss believe Lauren only wanted to pretend existed.

"No, because you don't want to kill Kurt, or you would have killed him a long time ago."

"He killed Dad!"

"Your father killed your mother," Prentiss added.

Lauren crossed her arms. "Only because that bitch made my mom suspicious!"

"What are you talking about?" Prentiss asked.

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Blaine's mother. When I was seven, my mom and I were taking a walk, and this woman comes up to us and asks whether we know why there are people disappearing and my mom's boyfriend never has an answer. Mom told her to go to hell, but then she went to my dad's house, saw him cutting up a corpse, and dad killed her."

Prentiss knew she should be feeling more revulsion than she did, but knowing that the girl in front of her had seen her father kill her mother and then her friend kill her father simply opened something deep inside her. "Do you know what you're going to do tomorrow?" she asked.

Lauren snorted. "Go to jail. Where else?"

"I think I can get them to let you go if you promise to get therapy."

"Yeah, but where would I go to?"

Prentiss looked at her hands, which were twisted around each other. "You could come with me," she offered.

Lauren looked at her suspiciously. "You mean, like how Blaine went with Pearl?"

Prentiss nodded, and untwisted one hand to offer to Lauren. Lauren only looked at it for a few seconds before taking it.

"Only if you stay in Lima, though. I don't think I should move again." _I don't think I could handle losing anything else._

"That's fine," Prentiss said. "I kind of like this town myself."

* * *

><p>Hotch somehow managed to convince the hospital administrators to move Kurt and Blaine into the same room Pearl rested in that night. Both boys were advised to stay in the private clean room overnight for observation and privacy reasons.<p>

"You look awful," Kurt said after visiting hours were over. "The paper ID bracelet around your wrist isn't as white as you are right now."

Pearl shrugged. "I just had four organs taken out of my body and I will never bear children. What's your excuse?"

Kurt stared at her for a second before bursting into laughter. Blaine joined in after it was clear that his mother was not angry, but his laughter was tinged with emotions other than simple mirth. There was relief that his mother would never have a biological child to take attention away from him and guilt that he felt this way at all. There may even have been some sadness that he would never have a sibling like Kurt had Finn. Pearl and Kurt noticed right away, and both fixed him with a steady gaze.

"Blaine, what's wrong?" Kurt asked first.

"I'm useless," Blaine sniffed. "I should've done something!"

Pearl looked at him, eyes so ice-blue they froze Blaine to the spot. "And what about me? Should I have done something else as well? My leg wasn't broken. I walked into the house alone. What does that make me?"

Blaine shrugged. "Smarter than me, that's for sure."

Pearl sighed. "Blaine, give yourself some credit. What you survived at the Andersons, that's something most people can't even fathom. You're stronger than you believe."

Blaine didn't respond, but even in the dark, his tension was obvious. Pearl and Kurt sighed together, too upset to close their eyes even though Blaine had fallen into a fitful sleep hours ago.

"Kurt Hummel," Pearl said finally.

"Yes, Ms. Rush?"

"I came really close to dying today."

"I know," Kurt said after a while. "I'm glad you didn't. Blaine would've been devastated if you had."

"I need to know that there'll be someone there for him when I can't be," her tone made her intentions clear.

"There is," Kurt's voice was soft but full of conviction.

"And I need to make sure that you're going to treat him right," Pearl continued.

Kurt smiled. "Is this the 'I've got a shotgun in my bedroom' conversation?"

"No. This is the 'My entire family and most of my friends work in various levels of law enforcement, all completely willing to murder you slowly and painfully before destroying all evidence that you ever even existed' conversation."

Kurt swallowed. "I promise not to mistreat your son, Ms. Rush."

* * *

><p>Detective Briana Sai: <em>"Only after disaster can we be resurrected. It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything."~Tyler Durden<em>

* * *

><p><em>I thought we could use with a couple of jokes in here. We might get to the New Directions next time, but I am really, really tired and slept waay later than I was used to last night, and I don't know how long it's going to take me to write the next chapter. And there'll probably only be two more chapters after this, focusing on the relationship Lauren will develp with Prentiss, Blaine and Kurt's recovery from their stay with the Butcher, and Blaine's recovery from the events of <span>Love211<span>, since I didn't really address that in the story. (Bad author!)_

_Thanks to livvylovesyou, OhMyGlee55, and stupidamericanidioms91 for your reviews! I'm so glad you guys are actually still reading this. And now I really, really need to sleep._


	9. The Funeral

_I suck; I uploaded the wrong version of this the first time. I hope this one reaches you guys in better condition. Ignore it if you got two chapter nine notifications, please!_

_Oh my goddess, OhMyGlee55, stupidamericanidioms91, and livvylovesyou, you guys are amazing! I'm so grateful you guys have decided to keep supporting this story. I know you guys also read "Perhaps now they'll listen." Just so you guys know, this story has nothing to do with that. Mia and I aren't retconning canon when Karofsky and Azimio sing together._

_I'm going to spoil some Criminal Minds canon here; in the season one episode "LDSK," Spencer Reid shoots the UNSUB, which is why he comforts Kurt instead of someone else. And in the episode "Children of the Dark," Prentiss almost adopts a girl whose family was murdered by two formerly abused UNSUBs, but the girl ends up being taken care of by other family members. The look on Prentiss' face when she found out just broke my heart, and as I was writing (the first ending had Lauren getting emancipated at sixteen) I thought, "Hey, let's give Emily a daughter!"_

_Disclaimer: I don't own the song "The Funeral" by Band of Horses, used in Criminal Minds episode "Revelations."_

* * *

><p>Chapter IX: The Funeral<p>

Kurt kept his head down during the funeral. He knew he didn't have a choice. He knew he killed Mr. Zizes in self defense. But he also knew that Blaine had been nearly inconsolable after he shot Elohssa. He wondered what was wrong with him that he wished he had been able to kill Zizes again now.

Unbeknownst to him, Reid was standing behind him, very good at reading the body language of teenagers. He approached the pale boy and rather awkwardly clapped his shoulder.

"Sorry," Reid said when he saw that he had startled the countertenor.

"It's not your fault I've been slushied and shoved into so many lockers I've almost gotten used to it," Kurt said bitterly.

Reid smiled. "It's okay, you know, that you're not more upset," he said gently. "I remember back in during her first year as an agent," he pointed to Blaine's mother, "she, Hotch, and I were taken hostage by a serial sniper. They distracted him so that I could shoot him. Afterward, I was worried for days that I was just as bad as the people I was after. It's strange, but some people have more sense than sensitivity," he looked down at Kurt. "You did the right thing. There's no need to feel bad about that."

Kurt nodded reluctantly. This time, when Reid patted his shoulder, he didn't flinch. He did do anything but look at the agent as he walked over to join Prentiss in comforting the sobbing Lauren. When he heard the crunch of gravel, he turned and sure enough, it was Puck, driving the car Pearl gave him as a gift. Puck let the two of them off first before he parked.

Blaine looked down at his mother. Last time they had attended a funeral, it had been that of a woman who had tortured him to no end, and she had had to push him in a wheelchair. This time, it was his turn to push her because she hadn't regained her strength yet. He limped his way to Kurt, who refused to let him keep pushing and would have taken the wheelchair if Hotch and Callia hadn't walked by right then. Hotch took the wheelchair out of his hands and Callia made snide comments about how Pearl should start walking instead of making everyone push her everywhere. Kurt tried to ease Blaine's eyebrow-furrowing frustration with distracting questions.

"Did your grandparents have to go back to work?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah," Blaine sighed regretfully. "Horatio's fifty-one, Lilly's almost forty-three, and they're still both putting their lives on the line every day."

The plan didn't work. "You know that your mother's going to follow that path too, right?"

Blaine looked pained. "I'm trying not to think about the day when Det. Bef and Sai are going to show up on my doorstep and tell me that she's died in the line of duty."

Kurt squinted across the bright sun at the shaded path Hotch was following. "If she could survive what she did at Zizes' lair, she can probably survive anything."

Blaine smiled. "She really is strong, isn't she? Probably has to be, to deal with me."

Kurt slipped his hand in Blaine. "You're not hard to deal with."

Blaine smiled sadly. "Last night, I had such a horrible nightmare, I woke up screaming and crying. And Pearl? She's supposed to stay in bed for at least two more days, but she ran from her room and into mine with tissues and hot chocolate. I don't even know how she managed to make it so fast."

Kurt shook his head. "After the year you've had, you deserve to be comforted."

"I know, but," Blaine sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture Kurt recognized as his way of suppressing tears, "I feel like she deserves it, just as much as I do, and I can't give it to her as well as she's giving it to me."

Kurt squeezed his hand more tightly. "Blaine, the fact that you're alive, the sound of your laughter, and even the way your eyes light up when you smile comfort me every day, and probably Pearl too. Don't worry that you're not doing enough. Your just being here is more than enough."

Blaine lifted his head slowly and met Kurt's eyes with his watery red-rimmed ones. "Really?" he looked so lost it nearly broke Kurt's heart.

"Really," Kurt lifted Blaine's hand and kissed it. Blaine's eyes lit up the way they did when he smiled, and suddenly he didn't look so lost anymore.

"I love you so much," Blaine whispered.

"I love you too," Kurt whispered back. Together, they walked across the grass field to join the woman who wanted to put away the demons of her past.

A shout from behind them made everyone turn their heads. Rachel Berry was waving her hands wildly in the air.

"Guys, we have a song for you!" she yelled. Behind her stood the whole of the New Directions. Lauren stood up so fast, she knocked Reid off-balance and onto his ass on the grass.

"What the hell is this?" Lauren looked around.

She didn't get an answer until the Glee Club had taken its place behind the casket of Ray Seetub Zizes, framed picture of him in Puck's hand.

"The two detectives who drove us here said that your father killed people he didn't like because he was trying to make the world safer for you," Tina said. "Even if we don't agree with his methods, we can understand where he was coming from."

"So we prepared a song for you, Lauren," Mike put his hand on Tina's shoulders.

"We even got the football team and the Garglers to join in," Puck said, gesturing to the new people making their way across the field.

"Warblers," everyone but Puck corrected.

"Whatever," Puck muttered.

There was a moment of tension when Karofsky accidentally bumped into Finn while taking his place in the choir. Finn faced the shorter jock nervously.

"Um, sorry about what I did to your face, dude," Finn said awkwardly.

Karofsky shrugged. "If I had a little brother, I'd probably have done the same thing," he said easily. "Don't worry about it."

The next tense moment happened when the impeccably-uniformed Dalton boys came holding pictures of the various victims. Lauren started to cry and Prentiss saw (and turned) red. Before anyone could protest, Pearl rose slowly and started to talk.

"Look, as much as we might all want to pretend that none of this ever happened," she swept her hand across the pictures of the Butcher victims, "the fact is that it did, and Lauren will never be able to think about her father without thinking about their bloody bonding moments. So we might as well honor the victims as well. They deserve closure just as much as any of us do."

Slowly, the anger in the air dissipated and Pearl nearly collapsed into her wheelchair.

Rachel and Finn took the first sentence, Santana and Brittany the second, Mercedes and Artie the third, and Tina and Mike the fourth line of the first verse.

_I'm coming up only to hold you under. I'm coming up only to show you wrong  
>And to know you is hard; we wonder. To know you all wrong; we were.<em>

The New Directions and football players sang the chorus together.

_Really too late to call, so we wait for morning to wake you.  
>That's all we got. To know me as hardly golden,<br>Is to know me all wrong, they were._

Then Karofsky and Azimio harmonized the first sentence of the second verse, Wes and Thad took the second, David and Trent sang the third, until finally it was Nick and Jeff's turn. The Warblers sang the second chorus together.

_At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral. Every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral  
>Every occasion, know I'm ready for the funeral. At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral<br>I'm coming up only to show you down. For I'm coming up only to show you wrong.  
>To the outside: the dead leaves, they're on the lawn.<br>Before they died, had trees to hang their hope._

At the third and fourth chorus, the Warblers', the New Directions', and the football players' voices blended together beautifully.

_And every occasion, I'll be ready for the funeral.  
>And every occasion once more, it's called the funeral.<br>And every occasion, oh, I'm ready for the funeral.  
>Every occasion of one billion day funeral.<em>

If the song was unusually echo-y, it was probably the 102 spirits singing with them that day in the graveyard.

Not quite one billion funerals that day, but one hundred and two funerals was more than enough.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hotch asked.<p>

Prentiss nodded, unaware that Hotch's wife was asleep on the couch behind her. "Cyanne can balance this job and raising a teenage son, and I'm almost twice her age."

Hotch opened the box on his desk, which was filled with the things from her desk. "Due to her antics in the last case, I've suspended her from duty indefinitely."

Prentiss' mouth fell open. "Hotch, it was for her **son**!"

"Exactly, and you know she only did it to keep the rest of us from getting hurt," Callia said, getting up.

"She acted with maturity not becoming of an agent of her status of befitting of a profiler from my department," Hotch quoted his report on her suspension verbatim. Reid wasn't the only one who could remember things.

"She acted immaturely because in her mind, she was still a teenager," Prentiss disagreed. "Hotch, she found these bodies when she was fourteen, and when she came face to face with the possibility of finding more, she became fourteen again. It's a classic case of associative regression."

"And if it were Jack who was in danger, you wouldn't even have come in to tell us," Callia argued as well. "You would have simply walked out and shot both Zizes and Lauren. Hell, both of us would."

Hotch couldn't speak for a few seconds, face taut and white with anger. But he knew the women were right. "I still can't accept her back. She's too badly hurt."

"Oh, please," Callia rolled her eyes. "I could give blood. Her biological mother could give blood. But she doesn't need it as much as we do."

Prentiss was flummoxed by the callous remark, but decided to turn to Hotch, who was decidedly less taken aback by Callia. "Please, at least consider reinstating her."

Hotch only hesitated a moment before saying, "She'll remainsuspended, but once she's recovered, she can come to me and I'll reinstate her."

Prentiss and Callia smiled and each other and Callia left. Prentiss turned back to Hotch. "What about my job?"

Hotch looked at her for a long moment. "Are you sure you would be able to travel with us as often as we do?"

Prentiss had to pause and think, looking down at her interlocked fingers. "Yes," she said finally. She wanted to be a good mother, and she could do that better by making the world less evil while her daughter was at a friend's house than by staying at home while evil continued its murderous rampage.

Hotch nodded his approval. "Then I wish you and your daughter the best."

Prentiss smiled as she got up to leave. "Thank you, sir."

"Prentiss," Hotch called. The brunette turned, and Hotch softened his tone. "Emily, they've been through a lot. Make sure Lauren sees someone, and make sure Pearl makes Blaine see someone. You two can't do this alone."

Prentiss made a sound of acquiescence before she walked out of the bullpen for what could possibly be the last time. She had tried to be as late as she possibly could, but Reid, Morgan, JJ, Callia, Rossi, and even Reid's wife were still there, waiting for her.

"We're going to miss you," JJ said, hugging her friend.

"Does Lima know what it's getting itself into?" Morgan dealt with goodbyes the only way he knew how.

"Thank you," Reid whispered emotionally. When he pulled away, there were tears in his eyes and Morgan slapped his shoulder playfully.

"Good luck, even though you don't need it," Varda gave Prentiss one of her famously eviscerating hugs.

Rossi couldn't speak as he moved forward to embrace Prentiss. If their gazes lingered a little too long, no one commented. Prentiss readjusted her bag and got ready to leave the office when the click-clack of heels behind her stopped her.

"You're not going to go anywhere without a little goodbye from Penelope," Garcia said, running from her computer room to wrap Prentiss in a Flying Tackle Hug.

Prentiss laughed a little. She waved at the team until the elevator doors closed and she could no longer see them. Instead of sadness that she would no longer be with the team, she felt hope. She wasn't sacrificing her work and love life for a family life; she was enriching her **entire** life with love.

* * *

><p>Blaine was more than a little worried to sit next to his mother. "Was it true?" he finally asked once she helped him drape his unbending cast across the next two chairs, even though she was probably still weak as a kitten herself. "Zizes said a lot of stuff about you."<p>

"Ask, Blaine," Pearl's face was kind. "I promise to answer honestly."

Blaine shifted uncomfortably. "Were you ever a member of the Fauna gang?"

Pearl suddenly found it hard to breathe; her heart was lodged too tightly around her throat.

* * *

><p>Prentiss: "<em>Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings."~Ralph Blum. <em>

* * *

><p><em>Yeah, the next chapter's probably going to be the last one. After that, I have to work on two separate stories, both of which are going to branch out from this one, and at least one of them is going to be a series in itself. <em>_Too many sequels? Probably. But remember; I'm known for coming up with an idea and running with it for **years.** So just know that, except for Anna, the OCs introduced in my L'verse (that's the stories I've written where the title starts with the letter L) will be getting their own story._

_Wait a second...my OCs are getting their own story... Well, I guess I'll see some of you guys on fictionpress._

_Next time, Pearl, Blaine, and Lauren see a therapist, where some secrets come out that are going to lead to the (hopefully) final installment of the L-series called Let Me Tell You a Story. Remember how Todd and Doug are from Ann Arbor? Well, there's a reason Zizes chose people from that place._

_Yeah, too many sequels._


	10. Hallelujah

_I'm so grateful that stupidamericanidioms91 has stuck with me through the roller coaster that used to just be Little Earthquakes and grew into this three-novella monster. I'm so grateful that livvylovesyou and OhMyGlee55 have joined in with your enthusiasm and extremely encouraging imput. I'm so grateful that 256, whoever you are, has been so supportive and I hope I hear from you again soon!_

_See if you can guess what show I reference at the end when Pearl thinks about Karma. By the way, there's going to be another (the last one) of Pearl's little characters. Romantic!Pearl is going to be called Love because...well, **duh**. __Det. Gadhavi will become an agent in the Indiana Bureau of Investigation, alongside his new partner Alivia Souveloy. Three guesses who the new OC's based off of._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the song "Hallelujah." When I wrote this chapter I was thinking of Regina Spektor's version. Criminal Minds episode "A Real Rain" used Jeff Buckley's version, and Cold Case episode "Death Penalty: Final Appeal" used John Cale's version. I don't own those versions of the song, nor the original 15-verse by Leonard Cohen. All three versions contain the lyrics used at the end. I also don't own Adam Ross from CSI: New York, or the show itself._

* * *

><p>Chapter X: Hallelujah<p>

"I still want to know why he picked the two guys from Michigan," Reid looked up when Morgan's unsatisfactory report of Det. Gadhavi's actions in the Butcher case was crumpled into a ball and thrown at his desk.

"Sorry," Morgan said as he got up to flick it into the trash can. "Besides, it won't matter anymore. We've got the guy, there aren't going to be any more victims, and his accomplice is under Prentiss' watch."

"Still, the loose end doesn't bother you?" Reid asked.

Morgan shrugged. "Why should it? He didn't kill any of his first ninety-something victims after an extensive background check."

"But he did check Todd's and Doug's backgrounds. There was something he was trying to tell us," Reid looked doubtful.

"He has a point," Rossi turned to Morgan. "Zizes was meticulous. He chose the two men for a reason."

Morgan sighed and gave up. "I'll call Garcia in the morning and see if she can link Pearl to Ann Arbor."

* * *

><p>Pearl was silent for a long time until Blaine moved so that there was space on the bench. She sat down next to him. "I joined when I was in fourth grade. Both my parents had just died, or so I thought, and my sister wasn't around much. I wanted to belong to some family, and it ended up being the Fauna. It's not a good excuse, but that was my reasoning at the time. Believe me, if I could take it back…"<p>

Blaine wondered when he had put Pearl so high on the pedestal that when she fell down, she knocked him over. He looked down.

"I wouldn't," Pearl said suddenly. "I wouldn't take it back, any of them. All the mistakes I made, Blaine, they brought me here. With you. I wanted a family so badly, and I have one," she said, looking at him. Her eyes fell on his leg and her face fell into dejection. "I'm not perfect, Blaine," she said quietly, putting her hand on his cast. "I'm sorry if I tried to pretend like I was. I was only trying to be someone you could rely on."

Blaine smiled softly and shook his head. "Mother, you are someone I can rely on. Lola treated me like shit. My biological mom sold me to Ann Arbor. You're not perfect, but no one is. Frankly, compared to a lot of the people I grew up with, you **are** perfect." Pearl smiled and hugged him. It took a while for what he said to sink in.

Pearl pulled back and stared at Blaine. "Wait, sold you **where**?"

Blaine blinked up at her, uncomprehending. "Ann Arbor, Michigan. That's where the man brought me to…train me."

The gears in Pearl's brain whirled at a hundred miles an hour. "Oh my goddess," she said in a gasp. "The last two victims, Todd and Doug, they were both born in Ann Arbor, a three years apart. Oh, dear goddess, why didn't I see this?"

Blaine frowned. "You mean, the Butcher's last two victims?"

Pearl nodded, hand pressed to her mouth. "He was trying to tell us that you were his next victim by leaving us clues to where you had first been a victim. And Lauren said that he left you guys alone to look for a place to bury you. There's no way that wouldn't have been significant to me too. I have to have Garcia take a look at where he traveled." Suddenly, she got another idea. "Wait! These people, these slave traders, they're creatures of habit. They would go to wherever the money is plentiful and stay there."

"Mother, what are you talking about?" Blaine asked, confused.

Pearl had to bite her lip until it bled to speak as if adrenaline weren't singeing her veins. "Blaine, we're going to find the people who bought you, sold you, and all the other people they've bought and sold, and we're going to save them."

* * *

><p>"I don't see anything," Garcia frowned. "Pearl's never even stepped foot in Michigan, unless it was with us."<p>

"Well, in Puck's statement, he said Lauren's father left her alone with Kurt and Blaine to look for a place to bury them. Can you figure out where he went?" asked JJ.

Garcia pulled up a list of flight histories and searched for his name. "Yeah, it looks like he went to Ireland."

Rossi eyebrows lifted. "Why would he go to Ireland? What kind of connection does Pearlie have to Ireland, besides her father?"

Reid shook his head. "Not her, her son. I remember in his statement, he said that his biological mother sold him from Ireland."

Understanding spread across Rossi's face. "We've been assuming that the Butcher was exclusively interested in Pearlie, when in actuality he was interested in ruining her life."

The BAU looked at each other. "If there's international crime involved, it's bigger than us," Reid said unnecessarily.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. Does anyone know how to get in contact with the UN?" Morgan asked after lobbing a pencil at Reid.

* * *

><p>"You really don't have to pay for this, Emily," Pearl tells her friend.<p>

"I know I don't," Emily said truthfully. "I want to." She smiled at Pearl. "It's strange not calling you Cyanne anymore. It feels more…intimate when I can call you Pearl."

Pearl laughed and took Emily's hand to pull the older agent into an embrace. "It's nice knowing we're friends, not just people who have to stick together so we don't fall into the pit separately," she frowned a little, thinking of what their job entailed.

Prentiss looked at the doors behind which their children had disappeared. "It'd be interesting to see who fell first, wouldn't it? And who would last the longest?"

Pearl was quiet for a long while. "I don't think Callia would ever fall into it. She's been dancing on the edge so long, she knows better than to lose her balance. But me, I think I'd go headfirst if I were alone."

Prentiss looked at the young mother carefully. "Pearl, you had your organs cut out of your body, you had surgery while completely awake right after, and you were just told that you could never bear children. What you're feeling is the result of that, not from your conscience being corrupted."

Pearl shrugged. "I hope you're right."

Prentiss suddenly started to cry. This was not the reaction Pearl had expected from Prentiss. Or maybe it was, because the woman sitting in front of her was not the compulsively compartmentalizing agent she knew, but rather an imperfect mother, Emily. Impulsively, Pearl took Emily's hand. Emily smiled and put her other hand on Pearl's; younger woman mimicked the action. They squeezed tight, holding on, and let go.

"I'm afraid that I won't be able to really provide a home for her," Emily confessed. "She's been living with a man incapable of love for so long that I really don't know what to do."

"Emily Prentiss and Pearl Rush? Lauren Prentiss and Blaine Rush are waiting for you," said the secretary.

Emily and Pearl walked to their respective children and hugged them. Maybe too tightly, maybe not. "You'll figure it out," Pearl mouthed as she took Blaine home.

* * *

><p>"Oleksander Milandu Gadhavi, I presume," Agent Souveloy looked at the newbie. "I'm your new partner. My name's Alivia, but you can call me Livvy. If you call me Ali, I will hit your hard, where it hurts."<p>

Oleksander returned her glare with a semi-easy smile. "Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise. The names Buttonwillow Butcher and Cyanne Rush are legendary in IBI circles. Welcome to the Bureau, **Agent** Gadhavi."

* * *

><p><em>Gracie's face was angry. "It's your fault I died," she said resentfully. "You were the only sober person in the entire house. You should have made sure we were all okay."<em>

_Pearlie backed away, feeling incredibly small. "I'm sorry," she said quietly._

_Gracie shook her head. "That's not good enough," she continued. She took out a scalpel and turned into Ray Zizes. Pearlie gasped and pressed herself against the wall. Zizes, however, wasn't paying attention to her. He was focused on a body strapped down on the gurney. It was Blaine. He screamed for Pearlie to help him as Zizes cut into his body. Then the screams changed._

"Mother!" Pearl's son shook her awake. She came to with a gasp and a half-sob.

"Mother, are you alright?" Blaine asked worriedly.

Pearl shook her head and buried her face in between her knees. "I always thought that I had better control over myself than this."

Blaine looked at her oddly. "What are you talking about?"

Pearl sighed and suddenly laughed. It was possibly the scariest thing her son had ever heard in his life. "You know that quote about, if you go through life with only one good friend, you're lucky? Well, yeah, that's me," she sniffed and reached for her phone. Blaine handed it to her. She dialed and waited, breaths still shaky, until suddenly she gasped.

"Keefe!"

_Adam Keefe Ross_, Blaine remembered, _Aimi said something about him_. He wondered thoughtfully if that was true.

"Oh, hi Kendall, it's Love. Can you put Adam on the phone?" There were a few moments of silence. "Hey, Keefe, having a special midnight snack?" the pain in her voice was obvious.

"I was evicted," Keefe said, shame flooding his voice. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just didn't want you to worry, so I started crashing with Kendall."

"No, I'm sorry to have interrupted, and you're going to be getting a check in the mail in a couple days. It's not as big as I'd like, but I promised this guy a car if he found my son," she stuck her tongue out at Blaine, amazed at how simply hearing Keefe's voice could cheer her up like this. Immediately, however, she sobered up. "I just wanted to tell you that Gracie's killer was caught."

On the other side of the phone, there was a dead-silent response. "I can go," Love offered listlessly, ready to hang up.

"No, don't," Keefe said suddenly. "Um, I read that he killed four more people. Was Roger one of them?"

Love didn't speak, but Keefe could somehow hear her nod through the phone. He had to clear his throat before he could respond.

"I'm glad he's not, you know, pining after her anymore."

"He was found next to a Jane Doe, a hooker who looked like Graciela," Love didn't know what possessed her to say that. "He loved her, after all this time."

Keefe chuckled. "You know, I was expecting nothing less."

Something about the way he said that made hope surge in Love's heart. "Even after ten years?" she asked.

"Even after ten years," Keefe said, his voice letting her know that her hope was not lost, that Aimi was right. "Are you okay?" he asked, concerned

_Oh, right, she said they were in love_, Blaine remembered. He smiled and reached out, touching his mother's shoulder.

Love looked at Blaine and felt more than heard the final piece of her life sliding into place. "Look, Keefe, I need to go to New York for a couple days. You can come use my apartment if you want. I need **someone** to clean up the place."

"Still hopeless at hosting?" Keefe teased.

Love squirmed guiltily. "Yeah, and I don't want to make Blaine do all the work around here. It's not fair when his leg is broken and I can't even move."

"Wait, why can't you move?" if Keefe sounded concerned before, he sounded frantic now.

"It's a long story, Keefe. I'll tell you when I get there," Love sighed. "But we need to get in contact with the UN headquarters there."

"Yeah, of course," Keefe said, shocked. For the first time in a year, he was going to see the love of all three of his lives again. "Why didn't you talk to me?" he accused.

"I made a mistake," Love sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Actually, I made a lot of mistakes, Keefe. I'm not an agent anymore, I'm a mother." She saw Blaine's face fall when he heard her regret that she had lost her job and she realized with a fierce rush of motherly pride that she didn't actually have any regrets at all. "And I would make every single one of those mistakes again, Keefe. You're going to love Blaine. Blaine, say hi to my boyfriend!" she said the word "boyfriend" as if it were a miracle.

Keefe and Blaine laughed together, a nearly-musical tenor sound.

"Hey, kid, I hear you're giving my girl some grief," Keefe quipped.

Blaine shrugged, unsure what to say. "I hope I don't disappoint you, sir," he opted.

Keefe made a growl of dissent. "Blaine, Love wouldn't adopt you unless she absolutely knew for certain that you're a good kid."

Blaine looked up at his mother in awe. "Really?"

"Of course, kiddo! Now, you both need to get some sleep. It's six here, which means you guys need to go back to bed. I'm looking at you to make sure she takes care of herself too, so be nice to her alright?" Keefe's voice was completely serious.

Blaine nodded enthusiastically before realizing that nods weren't sounds transmittable through the phone. "I promise, sir," he said.

"None of this 'sir' stuff," Keefe said firmly. "You're going to call me Keefe. And maybe someday, if I'm lucky enough that your mother loves me back and you're still around, you can call me dad."

Now Blaine felt like it was hard to breathe around the lump in his throat. "Good night," he squeaked before limping across to his bed. Another day or so and the doctors would finally take off his cast. Love smiled at him as he left. Never really a religious person, she didn't know what it was that made her raise her eyes to the sky and sing. She didn't even know what she was singing to. Karma, maybe. No, Karma was stripping in Vegas.

Love dismissed her errant thoughts and fell into a dreamless sleep. There would be no nightmares in the Rush household that night.

_Maybe there's a god above, but all I ever learned from love, was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you. And it's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light. __It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah._

* * *

><p>Emily: <em>"The difference between a house and a home"<em>

Lauren:_ "is like the difference between a man and a woman."_

Blaine: "_It might be embarrassing to explain,"_

Pearl:_ "but it would be very unusual to get them confused."_

* * *

><p><em>And that's how this case wraps up, everyone! The last quote is by Lemony Snicket, by the way. His book <span>Horseradish<span> is just about the most amazing thing I've ever read. Hell, dump this thing ^ and go read that instead!_

__Yeah, the next story after this is going to kill canon as we know it. I'm going to call it Look and After, about Pearl and Keefe (introduced earlier and reintroduced here) going on an international adventure to find the people who hurt their son. I was going to call it "Crossfire," but then I decided that it did wrap up some important plot points. It's called Look and After because it's about MOST people react to things they see (like Blaine's enslavement) versus how Pearl and Keefe react (how they look and what they do after). Also, if you say it really fast in the Texas drawl that I have, you kind of say "lookin' after."__

__For now, though, I'm going to focus on the other story I'm going to start writing on fictionpress (Let Me Tell You a Story) because it'll be freakishly long. And just like Little Earthquakes, it's going to grow into so many other stories, just thinking about it gives me a headache.__

_Guys, it is simply magical how you can keep supporting me. I love you guys and I love that you review. Thank you, thank you, and hallelujah. I am so blessed!_


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